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Old 03-16-2012, 12:11 PM
 
390 posts, read 1,042,963 times
Reputation: 154

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So I was cruising around youtube the other day and I stumbled on this video news bit that seems to be somewhat recent.



Developer shares his plan for Downtown Dayton revivial - YouTube


Basically, the idea is to tear down six major buildings in downtown Dayton to get the vacancy rate extremely low. This will apparently
A)Create space for free parking which "no one wil come downtown unless the parking is free"
and B)Lower the vacancy rate from 35% to 13% to make downtown Dayton more attractive to "sight-see-er's" and "developers."
According to the gentlemen in the video who wants to save downtown it would take about $30Million to do this.

His proposal of some of the buildings being torn down are the 111 Building, the Old Key Bank Building, and the Centre City Building.
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Old 03-16-2012, 12:16 PM
 
Location: Cincinnati
4,471 posts, read 6,179,359 times
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Yes, that's David McDonald a long time developer, executive, etc., who authored "Saving America's Cities." I have linked to his blog on here in a few other posts. He knows what he is talking about and wants to create an entity in Dayton similar to 3CDC in Cincinnati to turn the city around by stabilizing and then improving Dayton's urban core - particularly the CBD. Please do yourself a favor and get his book. I have it and know the author, he has educated me on this topic and I trust you will find his insight enlightening as well.
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Old 03-16-2012, 12:41 PM
 
390 posts, read 1,042,963 times
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Thanks for the title TomJones123! I'll check it out! Infact....I think I might have it in my huge collection of books for my urban affairs classes at WSU. 8D
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Old 03-16-2012, 11:29 PM
 
Location: Covington, KY
1,898 posts, read 2,735,707 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nickolaseposter View Post

His proposal of some of the buildings being torn down are the 111 Building, the Old Key Bank Building, and the Centre City Building.
Centre City Building is historic, and very much so.
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Old 03-19-2012, 01:09 PM
 
390 posts, read 1,042,963 times
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I thought so too. That is the only one I think would be a bad idea to tear down, but I was merely reiterating what he suggested. My opinion would be to tear down 20-30 midrise/lowrise buildings that take up space and aren't even developable to modern standards.
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Old 03-20-2012, 07:54 AM
 
Location: Covington, KY
1,898 posts, read 2,735,707 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nickolaseposter View Post
I thought so too. That is the only one I think would be a bad idea to tear down, but I was merely reiterating what he suggested. My opinion would be to tear down 20-30 midrise/lowrise buildings that take up space and aren't even developable to modern standards.
You mean like around the Old Courthouse, which action moved out a bunch of small businesses so people had less reason to go downtown?

Oh, I do indeed remember. My mother worked at Donenfeld's, astutely opened a savings account at a little savings & loan nearby and I never went downtown without visiting the Gallaher's on the corner. Today no need for me to go there at all.
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Old 03-20-2012, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Dayton OH
235 posts, read 432,613 times
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They have already demolished all the schools, many of them almost 100 years old. We need to hold on to what heritage we have left.
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Old 03-20-2012, 04:03 PM
 
Location: "Daytonnati"
4,244 posts, read 7,138,529 times
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Essentially this would apply the suburban office park concept to downtown, where there is plenty of free parking and mostly postwar office space. It would complete the job that was started by Urban Renewal back in the 1960s.

Quote:
Centre City Building is historic, and very much so.
Who cares? The money isnt there to restore or adaptively re-use all this stuff...in fact it would be cheaper to demo it.

@@@

I do think they need to really think seriously about the "design" aspect of this. Just putting up parking lots wont make for an attractive area. If there is good design and nice landscaping this could be very nice.

A good example of a nice landscape treatment for parking is the area around the Fraze Pavillion/Kettering City Hall, where you have sort of an office park in a forest. You could do that with Dayton, too, do some nice walkways and tree plantings for the parking lots.
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Old 03-20-2012, 04:15 PM
 
Location: "Daytonnati"
4,244 posts, read 7,138,529 times
Reputation: 3014
Quote:
He knows what he is talking about and wants to create an entity in Dayton similar to 3CDC in Cincinnati to turn the city around by stabilizing and then improving Dayton's urban core - particularly the CBD.
I never thought it could be done but 3CDC is brining back what used to be one the most wild-west ghettos in the US, Over-The-Rhine. They know how to execute and are doing so, whith gusto. If anyone here hasnt been down to Cincy recently they need to make a visit to see how that place is turning around.

The difference with Dayton is that 3CDC is capitalized by the local business community, specfically corporations that have their HQs in or near downtown Cincy. An investment in 3CDC is, for them, a bit of self-interested investment in the physical & socioeconomic envrionment around their HQs.

Unfortunatly in Dayton this pool of business leadership has deserted the city so no incentive to put money into an 3CDC-like entitity to turn the center city around. The decision between flight or fight has already been made in Dayton, and that decision was "flight".
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Old 03-24-2012, 04:07 PM
 
390 posts, read 1,042,963 times
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I do think that there is still hope however. The flight isn't over yet. The problem is there is no cohesiveness between the young creative class and the urban professional class. There are many creative liberal people who are making an effort to open stores downtown. I don't know if anyone has noticed Clash Consignments, Hangar18, Peace on Fifth, or Basho Apparel...but they are all retail establishments that have opened in the past year in the downtown area that are of a higher caliber than what downtown has seen for a while. Then, of course, are your y.u.p.s that live and play downtown but more often don't work downtown. This niche has more money. Lastly, you have community leaders like Sandy Gudorf, head of the DDP, and Gary Leitzell, mayor, Nan Whaley, commission, and other business leaders who have the political and social influence to go on the news and talk about what's happening.mThe problem is these three groups aren't connected. The artsy, the yuppies, and the socialites aren't having a conversation about what they want to see happen. I think the problem is the artsy want to retain and reuse much of what we have. The yuppies just want a more convenient and entertaining downtown. The social elite want money to pour back in Dayton's pocket. They all have different interests. The problem is that these groups aren't having a conversation, they don't have a venue/forum/medium to do so, and therefore they can't identify the central issue. That real issue is what is it we our missing. We have a lot in Dayton yet people still complain. We have bright spots but it is inconsistent in many ways throughout the city proper. Physically and infrastructuraly speaking I would say it would be in Dayton's best interest to tear own many unusable buildings that have no architectural significance or historical significance and build more parking garages. The parking garages don't have to be ugly....they just have to be accessible and clean. We also need more green space downtown. We need to enhance our physical features by creating themed signage and more identifiable neighborhood barriers. Lighting the skyline up is important too. It makes t city look and feel more distinctive and is dramatic yet affordable with the city's limited budget. With proper planning, however, we can avoid making downtown Dayton an office park or a suburb. We will never put culdesacs or picket fences or strip malls downtown. But we need more housing.....row houses, lofts, condos, and high rises. We also need to focus on entertainment. Nightclubs, bars, recreation, galleries, cafes, parks, festivals, sports, and public art are key to extrapolating as much vibrancy we can out of this city.
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