DAYTON — The City of Dayton is investing almost $1 million to prepare a site for new and upscale housing in a booming business district.
The project is taking place in the Wright Dunbar Historic Business District in southwest Dayton. While new places to live hadn’t been part of the momentum in the restoration of the area, now a 1.1-acre site will change that.
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“This site is going to realize 27 units of market-rate homes,” Veronica Morris, Economic Development Manager for the City of Dayton, said.
Amos Jefferies, owner of a State Farm insurance agency, near the site was one of the first to start the rebuild in the area. He invested in his building in the 1990s and opened his business in 2005.
He told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell that seeing the city invest in the area, where many people felt like race issues slowed down both private and public investment, restores some faith for people living and working there.
“They did feel like they were being neglected and had a lot of doubts because they saw things happening in other communities,” Jefferies said. “Now they finally see it going on here.”
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The company that is doing the site preparation work may also build the 27 townhouses planned for the site. City officials said they believe young professionals or empty nesters will be interested in this new housing opportunity.
“It allows us to capture those people who may have to look outside the City of Dayton to find adequate market-rate housing,” Morris said.
There is an expectation that the work to get this site ready for building will begin in 90-120 days. Then, potentially, construction work for the new townhomes could happen when that is complete.