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City of Dayton to spend up to $1M on Arcade redevelopment

UPDATE @ 8:02 p.m.: The city of Dayton will spend as much as $1 million to help pay for architectural, engineering and demolition services for the Dayton Arcade, which officials said are needed to truly determine the cost of rehabbing the massive, vacant complex.

Dayton officials said the money will help the development team that wants to transform the arcade close on the property by June or July. The development partnership will match those funds to pay for the needed services.

Developers need to know how much rehabbing the complex will truly cost before they acquire the property and put together a financing package to fund it, City Manager Shelley Dickstein said.

"It means that some of those really important milestones towards the financing of a redevelopment project for the Arcade buildings can possibly come to fruition," she said.

RELATED: Latest Arcade plans to blend past, future

Dayton commissioners on Wednesday night approved a professional service agreement and a 50-year lease with Dayton Arcade Partners LLC. The lease is for a city-owned Arcade building on South Main Street.

Another company still owns most of the Arcade, but developers hope to close on real estate purchase by early summer. The developers need to control the property to receive tax credits.

The development partnership has already secured about $40 million in tax credits for its plans to rehab the arcade in phases. They intend to apply for $5 million in state historic tax credits by the Friday deadline.

The entire redevelopment project is expected to cost about $75 million.

But developers need architectural plans with actual cost estimates to really get a grip on the financing needed to make the project a reality, officials said. The estimates will be important for obtaining some tax credits already committed to the property's revitalization.

The city previously spent $700,000 to stabilize the arcade's buildings and take steps to protect them from anymore deterioration caused by the weather and water intrusion. The developers matched that investment.

The Arcade would cost $10 million to $12 million to demolish, and the city does not have the money to pay for doing that, officials said.

FIRST REPORT

The city of Dayton will pitch in as much as $1 million to support the redevelopment of the Dayton Arcade.

Commissioners tonight approved a services agreement to help pay for architectural, engineering and demolition work to help close on the property by early summer.

The city's contribution will match the development team's investment, said city manager shelley dickstein.

RELATED: Legislators tour Dayton Arcade

The city previously agreed to spend $750,000 to stabilize and secure the Arcade to protect it from water intrusion. Some of those funds came from the developers.

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