RELATED: $96M plan ‘transforms public housing in Dayton’
The multi-phase plan calls for replacing obsolete public housing with new units, shrinking the amount of subsidized housing and adding new townhouses, senior living units and affordable and market-rate apartments.
The redevelopment seeks to reconnect neighborhood streets, make the area more walkable and pedestrian friendly, preserve and enhance recreational amenities and open space and spark economic investment.
A notable proposal is to reuse the 35-acre McCall/NIBCO foundry site at James H. McGee Boulevard and Germantown Street to create a new town center, featuring two commercial or retail buildings, each having 49,000-square-feet of space.
Here’s what you need to know about this project.
What and where is the Greater Miami Chapel area?
The Greater Miami Chapel area has five neighborhoods: Miami Chapel, Lakeview, Pineview, Madden Hills and Edgemont. The area is home to 2,565 households, containing about 6,120 people.
The plan’s primary development area contains a western part of the Edgemont neighborhood, the eastern half of Madden Hills and all of the Miami Chapel neighborhood. The primary housing development area is at the southwest corner of Danner and Germantown streets, which contains the DeSoto Bass project.
What’s the condition of the neighborhoods?
Built in 1942, DeSoto Bass is the oldest and largest housing project in Greater Dayton Premier Management’s inventory. GDPM is the local housing authority.
DeSoto Bass has about 354 units, which are spread across 33 acres. Close by is Hilltop Homes, which is another public housing development that has 202 units. Hilltop was built in 1965 and sits on 16 acres.
About 95 percent of the population in the Greater Miami Chapel area is black, and more than half of its families live below the poverty line.
The median income of residents in the area is $19,368. That’s about $9,375 less than than residents citywide. Public housing residents in the area fare even worse, as their median income is about $6,715.
MORE: $86M makeover planned for Dayton public housing high-rises, apartments
What are the highlights of the Renew Miami Chapel plan?
The proposal is to remake the area in five phases. New housing is at the forefront of the redevelopment vision for the area, but infrastructure and other investments are crucial as well.
Phase 1 would construct 60 units of affordable, family rental homes along a new central boulevard that runs north to south.
The housing component would cost about $10 million to $12 million. The new $1.5 million boulevard would have wide sidewalks or walking paths, attractive landscaping and pedestrian-friendly upgrades. Other infrastructure work includes extending Banker Street to connect the east and west sides of the development.
Phase 2 would have an $11 million to $13 million housing component, creating 70 units of affordable, family rental townhomes. Additionally, at an estimated cost of $2 million, James H. McGee Boulevard would be extended along Danner Avenue to connect with Stewart Street. Danner Avenue would be replaced by the new boulevard.
Phase 3 would construct 40 units of single-family rental housing between Weaver Street and Hochwalt Avenue, in the southeastern section of the development area. The housing is expected to cost up to $11 million. The streets surrounding the development site will be repaired, replaced or repaved, and street trees and lighting will be upgraded at a cost of $1.2 million.
Phase 4 would include the construction of 60 units of senior housing along Germantown Street ($9.3 million to $11 million cost). These will be one- and two-bedroom units.
Phase 5 would create another 60 units of senior housing in one or two mixed-use buildings along Germantown Street. The structures will have first-floor retail space and other amenities. The phase is expected to cost more than $9.8 million.
There would be about 150 new units developed off site or current public housing residents would receive vouchers for other housing.
Phases 1 to 5 would cost about $61 million, which includes infrastructure investments.
But the entire project is expected to run about $88.7 million because of the cost to demolish Hilltop Homes ($2.3 million) and redevelop homeownership units through demolition and new construction ($5.2 million to $7 million).
Development partners propose offering 30 to 50 new homes for sale in the area.
There’s also the expense of creating replacement public housing units off-site in other areas ($20.2 million). Public housing residents will get vouchers for other housing or will be able to move to other subsidized housing units.
RELATED: Public housing targeted for demolition, upgrades
When will this plan become a reality?
Unclear, but possibly over the course of about 15 years. It largely depends on funding. GDPM plans to devote about $6 million out of its capital funds. But the partners plan to seek tax credits, enterprise funds and other federal sources.
The partners intend to apply for about $30 million in federal Choice Neighborhood Implementation grant money next year. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Dayton about $1.5 million to develop the plan.
If they can acquire implementation funds, the project would be fast-tracked and could be completed in seven to eight years.
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