“Measures are currently being put in place to protect critical infrastructure from any potential subsequent collapse of brick or façade on the upper portions of the structure,” the city said.
Main Street was closed Sunday between First and Third streets in downtown Dayton following strong Saturday winds that knocked the top facade off a building next to Stratacahe Tower, downtown’s highest office building.
Chris Riegel, Stratacache chief executive and owner of the tower, said Sunday that he expects to open the building Monday.
The north side face of the former Key Bank building or Paru Tower at 34. N. Main St. fell into an alley below and onto Stratacache Tower damaging several windows in the office building.
Emergency crews ordered people in Stratacache Tower to evacuate the building around 2 p.m. Saturday as a precaution from the adjacent building.
“Part of the northeast corner of the building had collapsed, and now it looks like the northeast corner through the north side of the building is sheered off,” Riegel told the Dayton Daily News. “We were told to evacuate the building because there’s another round of storms and wind coming through.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Riegel said he believes the fire department was concerned about the stability of the historic building.
On Sunday, Riegel said Stratacache Tower will be open for business Monday. He said his company has about 300 employees working in the building. There are about 500 to 550 people working there on a daily basis total, he said.
“We’ve got instructions in to our people, that anyone who is exposed to that side of the building can leave their offices. But the tower is back open for tomorrow,” Riegel said.
He said some employees can be moved to alternative locations in the area, such as Stratacache’s Needmore Road facility.
“We’re moving all of our people outside of the risk zone for debris if anything else comes down,” Riegel said. “We’re also offering all of our people the ability to work from our Needmore Road center if they want to go up there as an alternate.”
The adjacent building at 34 N. Main St. is owned by the Montgomery County Land Bank. It was transferred to the land bank from the city of Dayton in 2022.
The building has a checkered past
The 14-story tower was built in 1926 to house the Third National Bank and Trust company. It later became the Society Bank Building and then Key Bank. In more recent years, the building was in the hands of a self-proclaimed Hindu mystic.
Key Bank vacated the building in 2008. The classically styled building features 245,000 square feet of space.
In August 2010, a self-proclaimed Hindu guru, Annamalai Annamalai, who called himself Dr. Commander Selvam, bought the building $525,000 in cash and renamed it Paru Tower. Two businesses opened in the tower, Commander’s Cantina and a grocery.
As legal troubles mounted for Annamalai in Georgia, the building was placed into receivership and has remained vacant since 2012.
In 2013, with Annamalai owing more than $300,000 in back taxes, Montgomery County foreclosed on the building.
Dayton City Commission voted in May 2016 to spend $300,000 to pay back taxes and $200,000 for the structure off the creditors' receivership.
The city was working with a developer to use historic tax credits to redevelop the building before the pandemic. That never came to fruition.
Messages were sent to city of Dayton representatives about the situation.
A spokeswoman for AES Ohio said that electric power to that part of downtown is provided by an underground network that is not threatened at the moment.
“There’s no issue with service,” she said.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
