Charter school purchases Dayton building, improvements possible

Dayton Early College Academy will open its third school building in fall 2016, at the northeast corner of Second and Jefferson streets in downtown Dayton. The middle school will house grades 5-8 in a building formerly occupied by Miami Jacobs Career College. JEREMY KELLEY / STAFF

Dayton Early College Academy will open its third school building in fall 2016, at the northeast corner of Second and Jefferson streets in downtown Dayton. The middle school will house grades 5-8 in a building formerly occupied by Miami Jacobs Career College. JEREMY KELLEY / STAFF
DAYTON
By
Dec 28, 2018
X

Dayton Early College Academy this month purchased the building that currently houses the charter school’s middle school campus at 110 N. Patterson Blvd. in Dayton.

DECA Prep Inc. purchased the property for $1.35 million on Dec. 21, according to Montgomery County property records.

DECA had been leasing the former Miami-Jacobs Career College building since moving its roughly 380-student middle school there in 2016.

“We were able to purchase it with the help of the owner at a very good price,” said DECA Superintendent Judy Hennessey. “So now, owning the property, we feel more comfortable making improvements to it.”

RELATED: State audit cites ex-DECA charter school worker for illegal spending

The property was owned by the company Canal, LLC. Company representative Michael Wenzler could not be reached for comment.

Hennessey said there are no immediate plans for renovating the property, but in the long term they intend to convert clinical space previously used as Miami-Jacobs massage school rooms into middle school classrooms. Eventually they hope to build a gym.

“The biggest drawback to that facility is we don’t have a gym,” Hennessey said. “So we do use surrounding areas, the parks… but it would be our long-term plan to develop some type of athletic space.”

RELATED: Most Ohio charter school sponsors rate ‘effective,’ but some say that’s not all good news

DECA already owns the building that houses DECA Prep on Homewood Avenue in Dayton, and has a long-term lease with the University of Dayton for the space that houses its high school.

“It’s great to be downtown,” Hennessey said.

In Other News
1
Artist wants you to ponder materials, mortality and seasonal...
2
UD’s Lifelong Learning Institute celebrates 30 years of lessons for...
3
HOME TRENDS: Small changes add ‘zen’ to living space
4
Dayton songwriter brings whiskey-soaked sound to new album
5
Dayton digital media artist Tess Cortés uses technology to explore...

About the Author

Follow Josh Sweigart on facebookFollow Josh Sweigart on twitter

Josh Sweigart is an investigative reporter at the Dayton Daily News. His stories have focused on government waste, fraud, abuse and accountability in southwest Ohio, as well as the statehouse and U.S. Capitol.