Developers win funding for $7M Dayton apartment tower, $32M Springfield project

State tax credits will help toward renovation of Commodore apartments in Dayton’s Grafton Hill and Edward Wren apartment project in Springfield
The Commodore Apartments building, located at 522 Grand Ave., has won state historic preservation tax credits. The building has been vacant for years. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

The Commodore Apartments building, located at 522 Grand Ave., has won state historic preservation tax credits. The building has been vacant for years. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

The main developer of Dayton’s Fire Blocks District has been awarded state funding to help rehab a vacant 10-story apartment building in the Grafton Hill neighborhood.

Windsor Companies, which has revitalized multiple commercial buildings in downtown Dayton, plans to invest about $7.4 million into the Commodore Apartments at 522 W. Grand Ave.

The Commodore Apartments in the Grafton Hill neighborhood in Dayton. CONTRIBUTED

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The company this week learned it has been awarded more than $725,000 in state historic preservation tax credits to aid the project, which will create new high-end, market-rate apartments, says an Ohio historic preservation tax application.

In addition to the Commodore project, the state also granted nearly $4.5 million worth of state historic tax credits to the Edward Wren Co. Building in Springfield. There, the developer proposes spending about $31.7 million to turn the former Kaufman department store and Farmers National Bank building into 89 apartments.

Windsor proposes converting the Commodore building into 43 studio and one-bedroom apartments, plus a first-floor lobby and basement storage area.

Ted Vander Roest, executive director of the Springfield Foundation, talks with John Landess and Daren Cotter, from the Turner Foundation, about the apartments that will be located in the upper floors of the Wren Building in downtown Springfield. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

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Credit: Bill Lackey

The Commodore apartment building opened nearly a century ago but has been empty since 2018, according to the application.

The state in December announced its Round 29 funding awards, which granted more than $64 million worth of historic preservation tax incentives to benefit about 54 projects, including a handful in the Dayton region.

But the state this week said it evaluated its scoring procedures based on language in a Senate Bill that state legislators passed last year and determined that eight additional projects should have won awards.

That led to the Ohio Department of Development this week announcing an additional $17.5 million in state historic preservation tax credits to help rehabilitate eight historic properties across the state.

The second largest additional award is going to the long-vacant Edward Wren Co. Building, located at 31 E. High St. in Springfield.

The upper floors of the five-story building will turned into apartments, while the ground floor will be converted into new restaurant space, says a historic tax credit application. A two-level parking garage also will be added that extends down into the basement of the existing building.

John Landess, executive director of the Turner Foundation, walks through one of the upper floors of the Wren Building in downtown Springfield. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

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Credit: Bill Lackey

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