Having lived in Downtown Dayton for three years, this is certainly something we’ve been anticipating for some time now.
It is my understanding that the big-box phase development at the
Parkside Homes site (subsidized-housing) is being done in order to help
finance the more interesting phases of the project so that the city
isn’t hit up for a bunch of money and/or tax abatements.
I believe that Mandalay’s
involvement in this project gives it much credibility since they are a
huge company (along with a bunch of minor league baseball teams, they
own a movie studio (Mandalay with the tiger logo) and they are
apparently doing these kinds of projects elsewhere (does anybody know
where?). I am as aware as anybody how notorious Dayton is for always
announcing "the next big thing" that never seems to materialize, but
this appears to be the real deal.
I am extremely excited about the possibility of Downtown Dayton
(specifically Webster Station) beginning to realize the enormous
potential I see everyday as I walk around the city. Having lived on
the near north side of Chicago and near Downtown St. Petersburg, FL – I
have witnessed neighborhoods that had previously been written off
become developed and turned into fantastic places, so I have an
inherited level of optimism that many in Dayton (and other Ohio cities)
don’t have.
That said, I do have some concerns about the project.
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