Officials say they hope to see more downtown hotel rooms come online because they are needed to ensure that the urban center can compete for major events and travel and tourism dollars. The northern part of the arcade is being turned into a hotel and developers are working to turn other nearby properties into hotels.
“We’re hoping that the conference helps spur discussions about building or rehabilitating the existing hotels that are in downtown and adding more restaurants as well,” said Matt Wiederhold, executive director of Heritage Ohio.
Dayton this week for the first time ever hosted the annual Heritage Ohio conference, which is now in its 25th year.
The event, which was held at the Dayton Arcade from Tuesday to Thursday, featured more than 40 educational sessions and tours of historic properties in Dayton.
Conference attendees fell in love with natural beauty of the Dayton Arcade and the rehabbed spaces, said Wiederhold.
“Heritage Ohio feels fortunate to host our conference in Dayton to highlight some of the architectural gems, but to also call attention to some of the opportunities for building rehabilitation,” he said. “The arcade has been the perfect location for us, to illustrate how an outdated and abandoned building can be reimagined for a new life, rather than demolishing it forever.”
About 300 people attended the conference, three-fourths of whom were from outside of the Dayton region, Wiederhold said.
The conference hotel was the Marriott at the University of Dayton near the school’s campus because there were not enough hotel rooms available downtown, Wiederhold said.
The Marriott is located about 1.6 miles from the arcade.
Downtown currently has just two hotels: The AC Hotel (which opened over the summer) and the Fairfield Inn & Suites Dayton (opened in 2018).
Both are located in the northeastern part of downtown, by Day Air Ballpark. They are more than half a mile away from the arcade.
The arcade is very close to the former Crowne Plaza Dayton hotel, which more recently was rebranded the Radisson Hotel Dayton Convention Center.
But that hotel closed down about a year ago.
The new owner proposed to make the property a Hard Rock Hotel, but it’s unclear whether that project has made any progress.
The AC Hotel and the Fairfield were completely sold out this week because of high demand from business travelers and fans of the jam band Phish.
Phish performed Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Nutter Center at Wright State University, drawing large crowds.
Dave Williams, vice president of development with Cross Street Partners who was a speaker for multiple sessions at the conference, said downtown needs a lot more hotel rooms within a short walking distance of the arcade and the Dayton Convention Center.
The bulk of the northern portion of the Dayton Arcade complex is being turned into a 94-room Hilton Garden Inn. The hotel is expected to open in fall or winter of 2024.
Officials still hope the former Crowne Plaza will become a new hotel, and new hotel rooms are under development at the Barclay building on North Main Street, about a quarter mile to the north. The Barclay building will become the Hotel Ardent, part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton.
Pam Plageman, executive director and CEO of the Montgomery County Convention Facilities Authority, said the Dayton Convention Center needs about 500 hotel rooms within about three-blocks of the facility.
Williams said he pitched Dayton as a place to hold the annual Heritage Ohio preservation and revitalization conference about a decade ago.
But Williams said there wasn’t an ideal local venue to hold the conference at that time. The rehab of the Dayton Arcade changed that.
The conference provided opportunities for networking, learning and inspiring people who are passionate about the preservation of historic buildings, Williams said.
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