The city plans to spend about $5.5 million to construct the new police station at West Third Street and Abbey Avenue.
The city also plans to invest about $3.7 million into infrastructure at the site, which includes installing and creating new utility lines, road, right-of-way, walking paths, street lights and green space.
This work is supposed to set the stage for future redevelopment. The city hopes to open the new station in November 2025.
The funding for the new station and the site work comes from the Dayton Recovery Plan, which is the city’s spending blueprint for its $138 million in federal COVID relief funds.
Dayton police Chief Kamran Afzal said the new station will be in a much better location than the current west district station at 951 Washington St., near the I-75 / U.S. 35 interchange.
The new station is along West Third Street and close to U.S. 35 and Gettysburg Avenue.
Afzal said the area around the new police station is “ripe for development.”
The Dayton Metro Library spent $12 million to construct a new West Branch library at 300 Abbey Ave., just south of the airplane factory buildings. The branch opened in early 2022.
Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph said the redevelopment of the Wright factory site reminds him of a couple of other projects that were transformative for other parts of the city. This includes the minor league baseball stadium in downtown and the revitalization of the area around Miami Valley Hospital and the University of Dayton.
“I see the same potential here,” he said. “We already have some anchors in place.”
Local leaders hope the National Park Service will acquire the historic Wright brothers airplane factory hangars at a northeast section of the site.
Mackensie Wittmer, executive director of the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, said the National Park Service in June officially restarted its acquisition process for nearly four acres of the Wright factory site, which includes the two historic hangars and some adjacent land.
She said the acquisition process was paused for about 17 months after a fire broke out in March 2023 that damaged some of the hangars. The site is home to the pair of historic hangar buildings and three replica hangar structures.
Wittmer said the alliance remains optimistic that the National Park Service will complete acquisition of the hangar buildings. She said the library and the police station are long-term anchors that should help attract other investment.
“Any future investment will benefit from the police department’s planning, investment and community mindset,” she said.
Kendell Thompson, superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, said the park service is working closely with the city to solve issues around acquisition of the Wright company factory site.
Thompson said environmental deed restrictions prevent the park service from acquiring the factory site. But the park service and the city hope to work with the Ohio EPA to get them removed.
The park service is still waiting for a structural and environmental evaluation report from the city about post-fire conditions at the site, Thompson said.
Positive feedback
Eva Boddie, president of the Western Hills Neighborhood Association, said the new police station will be the answer to the prayers of many community members who have long wanted their neighborhoods to be safer.
She said the new location should improve police response times and makes the police department a visible part of the neighborhood.
She said the West Branch library has been a great addition and the new station should be just as impactful.
“This is beyond amazing,” she said. “I just refuse to believe that this will not be a win-win for the everybody.”
Residents want clean and safe neighborhoods, and these qualities are important for community revitalization, said Dee Wooding, founder of the Westwood Right Project, which has completed a comprehensive strategic plan for the Westwood neighborhood.
“To see any kind of investment in this community is long overdue,” she said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything built in this neighborhood.”
Dayton police Major Paul Saunders said the Wright factory site will be a catalyst.
Saunders said in addition to installing new infrastructure that primes the site for redevelopment, the city is going to beautify the streetscape around the new police station.
Historical plaques and statutes and history-telling elements are expected to be added around the site.
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