Another new apartment building coming to downtown, near RiverScape

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

The developers who have brought hundreds of new apartments downtown will add to the rapid growth of the Water Street District with a new apartment building offering sweeping views of the river and center city.

Crawford Hoying, in partnership with Woodard Development, says it plans to knock down the vacant Wright State University Kettering Center at 140 E. Monument Ave. to make way for a new, six-story apartment building called The Monument.

The new building will have 125 market-rate units, as well as 8,200 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the first floor, said Brent Crawford, principal and founder with Dublin-based Crawford Hoying, a leading downtown developer.

“You will have tremendous views,” Crawford said. “Really, this comes on the heels of all of our success with all the phases at Water Street.”

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Crawford Hoying’s and Woodard Development’s investments have remade a section of downtown along the river and around the baseball stadium that it has named the Water Street District.

The Water Street’s diverse mix of offerings include offices, a hotel, restaurants and about 530 apartments.

The new Monument apartment building will be just a couple of blocks from the developers’ other projects and residential properties, which have opened in the last five years.

Wright State University sold the empty Kettering Center for $1 million to KC Dayton Partners LLC in late 2018.

The three-story building had been vacant for more than a decade at the time of purchase.

Crawford said his team looked at trying to re-purpose the building, but its design was incompatible with their plans.

Renderings of The Monument show a brick building with balconies and a large interior courtyard.

The building is directly across the street from the main RiverScape pavilion.

The apartments will offer stunning views of the river and downtown skyline, said Jason Woodard, principal of Woodard Development.

Woodard said the proximity to RiverScape and the connectivity to the other Water Street developments made this the perfect place for their next project.

“This is a property that we worked several years to acquire and finally did with the vision to continue providing the best luxury multi-family options in downtown Dayton in the best locations,” Woodard said.

The Monument project also will include the construction of a new, 139-space attached parking garage to serve the apartments and commercial businesses. Work on the Monument project is expected to begin within the the next 30 to 45 days.

Crawford Hoying and Woodard Development have been responsible for most of the new housing downtown.

They built 269 new apartments at the Water Street Flats, 133 apartments at the Delco Lofts and 132 new units at the Centerfield Flats, which opened late last year.

Despite the pandemic, there’s been virtually no slowdown in apartment demand, Crawford said, noting that the new Centerfield Flats have been leasing up quickly and its units should be fully occupied by the end of summer.

The $19 million project created 132 new units and first-floor commercial space, which is home to the Mexican restaurant Local Cantina.

“We continue to see tremendous demand and feel it’s time to move on to the next phase,” Crawford said.

Crawford Hoying has invested more than $106 million into the Water Street District, and that doesn’t include investments in the district’s parking garage.

The group also is building a new hotel across from Day Air Ballpark, where the Dayton Dragons play, and plans to renovate and transform the massive Mendelsons liquidation outlet building.

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