“This is really like the connection that brings all the beautiful development from the other side of downtown Dayton kind of across the highway, and hopefully is the spark that really generates some more development in that area,” Pultz said.
Dayton needs to add thousands of new for-sale housing units in the next several years to meet the demand, according to a study, and this townhome project and another in the Wright Dunbar district could help with the housing deficit.
Ohio P&R Holdings recently spent $325,000 to purchase a mostly vacant site at 840 N. Main St., which used to be home to Ken’s Kars used automobile dealership, according to county auditor records.
Ohio P&R Holdings LLC wants to redevelop the property and recently submitted a proposed planned development to the city for Dayton Plan Board review.
The proposal calls for about 18 new attached single-family homes, a dozen of which would have frontage along North Main Street, said Keeghan White, a city of Dayton planner.
The homes, and the car wash, would be just north of Interstate 75, on the east side of Main Street.
Six townhomes would be along an alley behind the Main Street units, and the developer also proposes building four additional single-family, ranch-style homes.
The modern, three-story townhomes would have between 1,800 to 2,200 square feet of space and designs similar to product found in urban areas across the state, Pultz said.
Downtown Dayton has seen a lot of new development, but it hasn’t spread north, beyond I-75, Pultz said.
“We really think this will be the spark to push development north, down Main Street,” he said.
The original plan only proposed a new car wash on the site, but the developers decided to add a housing component.
The partners in the business are Pultz, Steven Roberts and Devin Roberts, who all grew up in the Dayton area.
The group is involved in creating a car wash business called Vortex Express Car Wash in Suffolk, Virginia.
Pultz said he’s been involved in rehabbing properties across the city, mainly multifamily apartment units.
The car wash has state-of-the-art equipment and a long tunnel with an LED light show display inside, Pultz said, and the business offers subscriptions that allow customers to get unlimited cleanings.
“We’re fortunate to be in a position to invest back in the communities that we grew up in, so areas like this that have been neglected for years and are dying for development are areas we focus on,” he said.
The developers still have a lengthy city process to work though, but the hope is to break ground on the car wash in about six to nine months and the housing maybe four to six months after that, Pultz said.
Ohio P&R Holdings shared details about its plans to the Dayton Plan Board, but no action was taken because the work session was informational in nature.
Some Plan board members said they would like to see the sidewalk and façade of the car wash lit up well to make sure it feels active and safe.
The planned development could require a partial vacation of Lawn Street, which runs perpendicular to North Main Street.
This is not the only recent new townhome project announced in Dayton.
Charles Simms Development recently shared plans for 26 new townhomes on the former Gem City Ice Cream Co. site on West Third Street.
Simms Development, which constructed more than 115 townhomes in downtown Dayton in roughly the last decade, now wants to bring new homes to the historic Wright Dunbar district, located just west of downtown across the Great Miami River.
The company would like to start with 26 units but build more after that, similar to what it did in downtown.
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