Dayton’s elected leaders say this will be big investment in a rapidly improving area.
“This is exactly the kind of project we are looking for here,” said Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph. “I want to thank ... the tenacity of the developers — it takes a lot to push these things through and get them right.”
The Dayton City Commission last week approved a planned development and final site plan review for a new housing project called San Marco.
Developer San Marco LLC proposes to construct a pair of mixed-use buildings at 800 W. Third St. that will have 120 apartments and ground floor commercial spaces.
An existing, vacant, two-story building that was formerly a Chevrolet car dealership will be rehabbed and expanded upward so that it has six floors, said Ellen Sizer, a city planner.
A completely new second building that’s five stories tall will be erected on a vacant lot that’s east of the car dealership, she said.
The buildings will have brick exteriors on the first two floors and panels on the upper levels, which Sizer said means they will have elements that look both historic and modern.
“There’s like this multi-dimensional, vertical architecture going on,” she said.
Sizer said the proposed development will boost density and will offer “versatile” housing in the Wright Dunbar neighborhood.
She said the project received quite a few letters of support, but some community members and stakeholders raised concerns about the amount of parking provided and the heights of the buildings.
San Macro has proposed to create some off-street parking at a nearby lot.
Lumpkin said his group is participating in weekly calls to discuss financing and potential project partners.
He said there’s no definite timeline to get financing in place, but the hope is the project will get started next year.
“We’re still plugging along, because we’re doing it ourselves and we don’t have a whole bunch of help,” said Lumpkin, who says San Marco LLC is comprised a small group of local investors.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Lumpkin said the Wright Dunbar business district has welcomed a lot of new businesses and amenities in recent years.
The district is home to Dayton’s first food hall in a very long time (West Social Tap & Table) a new cigar store and lounge has just opened up. There’s a variety of new businesses in the works that will give visitors new places to eat, drink and shop.
Also, just down the road from the Chevy dealership building is a new townhome project.
“We hope and believe that our development will add to that momentum and provide some additional density and additional people coming into the district,” Lumpkin said. “When our buildings are up, they’ll be nice gateways to the west side.”
Dayton city commissioners said they are very happy with the project.
“I think it really will generate some other kinds of development that we hope for,” said Commissioner Chris Shaw.
The project still needs to go through the final plan approval stage, and final plans go to the Dayton Plan Board, city staff said.
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