Premier Health has already announced plans for an urgent care, physician office space, lab and imaging services.
More partners have joined the plans for the center, which is the first new project on the site since the hospital closed.
The YMCA is also planning to be a part of the campus and is seeking to build a full facility including a gym, fitness room, pool and playing fields. Other partners include Wright State University, Goodwill, CareSource, the Homeownership Center and United Way.
“It is a great opportunity for the YMCA to serve another portion of our community. It provides another opportunity for the region, and the whole idea was to bring a bunch of nonprofits together to serve the community in a better way,” said CEO Dale Brunner.
Brunner said their hope is to close on financing March 18 and to then start construction immediately. It is roughly a $11.2 million project and the project partners have to raise about $2.2 million between now and then, he said.
They are working with foundations for their fundraising and Brunner said if people are interested in donating toward the project they can also reach him at dbrunner@daytonymca.org.
“We’re lucky that there’s a lot of great foundations around here that support the YMCA and understand what a great project this is,” Brunner said.
The YMCA was among community organizations that submitted requests for funding to the Dayton Region Priority Development & Advocacy Committee.
The committee, sometimes called “PDAC,” each year creates a priority list of ideas and projects worthy of lobbying and government funding and this year’s review process is still underway. The YMCA and partners submitted a request to the committee for $500,000.
The next steps for the Good Samaritan Hospital site and surrounding neighborhood were detailed December 2019, led by a nonprofit development corporation called Phoenix Next Dayton.
At the time, Premier Health announced a pledge that over a 10-year period, it would provide $15 million for Phoenix board-approved activities that will be matched by $15 million from the city of Dayton through traditional public fund sources.
In addition to this $30 million commitment, the partners behind Phoenix Next said they would work to use their commitment to bring in state, federal and private philanthropy dollars to redevelopment efforts.
Eloise Broner, chair of the Phoenix Next Board, said that when thinking about the vision that came from community members involved in the planning, what’s next is exciting news. The Phoenix Next representatives met with more than 600 community members and came up with the goal of health and wellbeing and next generation learning as the goals for redeveloping the site.
She called the nonprofits that want to be part of the project “the magnificent seven.”
“We are partnering to provide the services that the community has said that they most want to see on this site. And I tell you, it is truly, truly, truly, exciting,” said Broner, also chief of shared services for Premier Health.
Broner said this is the first phase of a multiphase redevelopment plan for the site. People can keep up with updates at daytonphoenixproject.org and updates are also shared with neighborhood groups.
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