“I bought the (Daybreak) property because my mission is to upgrade my community, my neighborhood, where I live,” she said. “I wanted to do something that I thought my neighbors would be proud of.”
Some neighbors and other community members say Dayton needs more people like Harrell who are willing to put their money where they live.
“Marjorie Harrell, in addition to living in South Park, has invested heavily in the neighborhood, but it’s gone beyond an investment of dollars to bring back vacant, blighted, distressed properties,” said Mark Manovich, president of Historic South Park Inc. “She has invested her own labor, love and her generous community spirit.”
Former Daybreak facility
The Daybreak property is located along the 800 block of Wayne Avenue, a stone’s throw south of U.S. 35 and next door to Wholly Grounds coffee shop.
The facility, which has an address of 50 Theobald Court, consists of two houses that were built in the 1920s and were later connected.
Daybreak vacated the roughly 8,500-square-foot facility in 2015, at which point the nonprofit organization set about trying to find someone to purchase it.
A few potential buyers proposed reusing the facility as a drug treatment center or a halfway house for ex-convicts. But many South Park residents opposed these plans and helped derail them.
Daybreak leaders were vexed because they said the property was designed and configured to be a group home or some similar kind of use.
They said it was highly unlikely anyone would want to try to turn it into what South Park residents were hoping for — more “desirable” uses, like offices or housing.
But then Harrell entered the picture.
Harrell comes in
Harrell’s Vander Home Investments LLC acquired the former Daybreak facility on Wayne several years ago and Harrell has made a mark on South Park since she moved into the neighborhood in 2018.
She has a rental property on Bradford Street that has a long-term tenant. She renovated a former bookstore property at Oak and Alberta streets into apartments and an artist studio space that is now home to the Mosaic Institute, which is a nonprofit focused on public art.
Harrell is turning a duplex on Perrine Street into a single-family home that she expects to sell. She also owns a large property on the 400 block of Alberta Street that she hasn’t decided what to do with yet.
The renovation of the Daybreak property was a very big undertaking, especially for someone who was not versed in this kind of construction project.
Harrell encountered some setbacks and challenges. A contractor that submitted bids never followed through. The property had structural issues that needed to be fixed, and a retaining wall had to be rebuilt.
Harrell’s partner, Hans Wollenberg, died in early January 2021, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
But Harrell didn’t quit.
She also tapped her cousin’s northeast Ohio company, O’Brien Construction Company in Solon, to help get the job done.
Work on the facility wrapped up a few months ago, and the property is now called the Slidertown Apartments, which is a nod to the origins of the South Park neighborhood. The area was called Slidertown back when it was full of shacks and shanties.
Slidertown Apartments has seven units that range in size from about 650 to 1,300 square feet, all with unique layouts, Harrell said.
“It’s not cookie-cutter,” she said. “But they all have big windows, lots of light coming in — they’re just beautiful.”
Need more like her
Matt Sauer, a local architect, said he admires Harrell for being willing to take on challenging projects.
“These aren’t simple flips, and without the vision to see the potential in these buildings, they could otherwise be sitting vacant,” Sauer said.
Sauer, who has done design and consultation work for Harrell, lived in the South Park neighborhood for a decade, until 2019.
He said he thinks Dayton needs a larger roster of small- to medium-scale developers, like Harrell.
“I’m glad to see Margie and a handful of other emerging developers take on projects that are not quite big enough to entice larger firms,” he said. “Those large developers have been focused on downtown, so there’s still a lot of opportunity in neighborhoods like South Park, Dayton View and Huffman for turning vacant properties into productive ones.”
South Park, which has about 800 historic structures, some dating back to the mid 1800s, is a popular place to live and has opportunities for all types of investors and homeowners, said Manovich, president of Historic South Park Inc.
Manovich said Harrell is fixing up abandoned properties that have been the source of problems like illegal dumping and break-ins.
He described Harrell as a kind and giving person who is always happy to help neighbors with things like yardwork, rides or taking care of their pets.
“In my experience, when someone invests where they live, their motivation often includes a desire to improve the appearance, safety, and quality of life in the community,” he said.
Harrell said she expects to continue to invest in South Park because she loves the neighborhood and there’s so many people who want to make it a better place to live.
“I feel like it’s the story of ‘The Little Engine That Could,’ ” she said. “I climbed the mountain, worked hard, and kept going and going, just like a little engine.”
She said, “It’s just me — I’m not a company from elsewhere. But one person can make a difference, and there are other people like me in South Park, and we’re doing our part.”
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