The demolitions are just one facet of a recently announced retention agreement with Taylor Corp. — Taylor Communication’s Minnesota-based parent company — to keep 500 employees in the company’s Albany Street offices.
According to the deal, Taylor Communications also will get a $750,000 grant from the city of Dayton (awaiting approval from the Dayton City Commission) and a $500,000 Montgomery County development grant. JobsOhio, the economic development of the state, may offer more at a later date.
In addition, Dayton will perform $2.1 million of street lighting and streetscape work.
The city has already demolished some properties around nearby Cincinnati Street, east of I-75, and has performed demolitions in 17 neighborhoods across the city for years, Sorrell said.
“In this immediate geography, these are the two neighborhoods,” Sorrell said.
The Edgemont neighborhood is west of the interstate while the Carillon neighborhood (not Carillon Park across the Great Miami River) is east of the highway. Both locales are west of the river.
But a key to starting the work will be the city’s renewal of its NIP (Neighborhood Improvement Program) agreement to secure federal money needed for the demolition work.
“We do not have a list of individual addresses yet,” Sorrell said. “We’re currently in the process of amending the NIP agreement … that we have with the (Montgomery County) Land Bank and the state of Ohio to include this neighborhood.”
Once that’s complete — perhaps in the next few weeks — the city will identify specific structures to tear down.
Brooks Rhodes, 31, who lives on West Stewart Street south of the Taylor property, welcomes the idea of ridding his neighborhood and others of eyesores.
“This is one of the worst areas for empty houses,” he said.
Rhodes’ home in the 800 block of West Stewart is well-kept, but he lives two doors east of a boarded-up structure.
“That sounds like a good idea to me,” Rhodes said of demolition plans. “Honestly, I’ve been over here for a long time, and this area has needing something like that for so long.”
The former homes to be demolished will have to be vacant and tax-delinquent, among other requirements, to qualify for demolition funding, Sorrell said. The city will have to acquire the buildings through a donation or through a tax foreclosure process.
No families will be evicted from homes for the work to proceed, Sorrell said. “We will only be going after, and working to acquire, vacant property. We will not be attempting at all to go after any occupied structures. That’s not even contemplated.”
He estimated that work will cost a total of about $500,000, but emphasized that federal money is expected to cover it.
The only time local money goes toward work is when the cost of demolishing a structure exceeds $25,000, usually because asbestos is found on the property, Sorrell said.
“It’s only occurred a handful of times,” he said.
“Behind-the-scenes” work for that portion of the agreement has begun.
Also part of the Taylor agreement: CityWide Development Corp. will buy and upgrade the private company’s offices.
Steven Budd, president of CityWide, said a non-disclosure agreement prevents him from saying much more at this point.
“We’re going to be working real close with the Taylor folks on the parameters of the renovation,” Budd said. “At this stage, there’s just an agreement that we’re not going to talk about it until it’s been finalized.”
Taylor bought the assets of Standard Register while the latter company was in bankruptcy protection in 2015.
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