Luxury townhomes planned near UD campus

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A local architect and businessman is planning to build four luxury townhomes with lower level office space in the 1600 block of South Main street at the intersection of Caldwell Street, just west of the University of Dayton campus.

Bo Bauer, the 59-year-old owner of Bottega construction management firm, said he will present design drawings to the city of Dayton next month as part of his application for a mixed-use permit to build the residential units and professional office space on the same parcel.

The townhomes would occupy the top two floors in each of four connected brownstone-style buildings — each with about 4,000-square-feet of living space, according to Bauer. The main floor in each building has been reserved for four approximately 1,500-square-foot office spaces, pending approval.

Bauer — who is already building a 1,200-square-foot “city” house and detached garage for he and his wife, Becky, next door to the townhomes — will use more than 1,500 tons of limestone salvaged from widening of Main Street near the Montgomery County Fairgrounds and Miami Valley Hospital on the exterior of all the buildings.

“We feel good about the reuse of this historic limestone,” he said. “It is some of the best, most dense and hardest limestone there is. It is not quarried anymore, so the only way to get it is salvage. We are very happy to preserve this beautiful stone, and put it to good use. These buildings will look 100 years old the day they are completed, but with all of the modern conveniences, of course.”

Bauer, a mason and master craftsman whose main residence is in Wilmington near Caesar Creek Lake, said he will lay all of the stone himself and design and build all of the cabinets and furniture.

Bauer is the sole financier for both projects, but said he hasn’t yet determined his final costs.

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