The redevelopment project at 24-32 S. Main St. will revamp the site for mixed use with retail on the first floor and apartment units on the second and third floors.
“We’re just elated to finally begin construction and I’m sure the city is, as well,” Eric Joo, principal of Springboro-based Simplify Real Estate, who has been working on the project for approximately two years along with MODA4 Design and Architecture. “We got delayed a little at the end of the year and then the whole COVID thing hit and that kind of put everyone (at) a standstill.”
The 12,610-square-foot Suttman building will allow for about 6,000 square feet of space for businesses on the first floor, an area that Joo said is “perfect” for a restaurant-brewery with an outdoor patio.
The 6,200 square feet across the building’s second and third floors will include four apartments per floor: five one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units.
The site’s 1,000 square feet of basement space “would be great for catered event space or a speakeasy-type” of setting, Joo previously said. That amenity likely will be accessible via newly created exterior stairs, which he said “adds some more character to the space.”
Construction started this week and is expected to be completed in a year, said Joo.
MODA4 Principal Architect Jason Sheets said he is well acquainted with the challenges of revitalizing a historic building.
“Between budget, state historic preservation office (rules) and current building codes, it gets very complicated to reuse the building and still get a product that is marketable, viable and attractive,” Sheet said. “We feel we’ve done that, but this (building), even thought it’s a smaller project, it was probably the most difficult to balance all of the three because of the tight site and the nuanced constraints that this particular building gave.”
The city purchased the site in July 2016, according to Montgomery County Auditor’s Office records. It includes three parcels, of which the main one is the Suttman building, built in 1900, records show.
To help revitalize the building in Miamisburg’s Historic Downtown, the city provided a $350,000 grant and the Miamisburg School District approved $450,000 of Tax Increment Financing. If not for that funding, renovation costs would have made the project infeasible, Joo said.
The building, Miamisburg’s first historic preservation tax credit project, also garnered $432,310 in historic preservation tax credits that will give Simplify Real Estate and MODA4 relief of taxes for five years after it completes construction on the project.
Downtown Miamisburg has seen a revival the past several years with the opening of several locally owned shops, millions in investment at Riverfront Park and the restoration of the Historic Plaza Theatre.
Joo said he became interested in developing in Miamisburg because of its architecture, park system, bike trails and various amenities, including restaurants, retail shops, theater and candy store.
“How can you not like downtown Miamisburg?” Joo said. “They probably have one of the coolest downtowns in our area. Not a lot of second-ring cities have an established downtown district and the ones who don’t are trying to create it.”
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