In a reverse coup de grace, the Dayton Arcade has not only been purchased but it has been resuscitated. Life support is kicking in with the recent purchase of the historic multi-building block. The owners, Berg and Strutz, have a strong track record behind them. Berg is flying to Germany next week to finalize financing for the $30 million project that is expected to begin next year.
From the Dayton Daily News article “$30M Arcade restoration will begin early next year“:
“We still are amazed each day about how many positive people there are in Dayton regarding our project and downtown Dayton as a whole,” Strutz said.
This quote shows the impact that the Dayton community has on the investor class, both the responsible and the irresponsible. Frankly, I think the Dayton online community (ahem, Dayton Most Metro!) has a lot to be proud (Bill Pote and everyone else out there!) for showing their pride in the city in their life and online. Dayton has its cheerleaders and they are coming out of the woodwork and reconnecting using every tool at their disposal.
The Dayton Most Metro post about the Arcade sale ends in this most appropriate way:
Perhaps this marks a new day for downtown. The complete restoration of the Arcade may have a significant healing effect on a community that has been beaten down over the years and has seemed to have lost all hope in their city. Other developers may see the enormous investment being made in the Arcade and decide now is the time to grab one of the surrounding buildings for redevelopment. Downtown Dayton just might rise up and once again be a magnificent city it once was. Yes, anything is possible…
The post also has a photo (thanks to TG) of a banner that was provided by Friends of the Dayton Arcade.
It is below and reads:
Therefore when we build, let us think that we build (public edifices) forever. Let us not be for present delight, nor for present use alone, let i be for such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time will come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, “See! this our fathers did for us!”
-Ruskin
-Seven Lamps of Architecture: The Lamp of Memory
Filed under: Assertive citizenry, Dayton Arcade, Dayton Ohio, Downtown Dayton, Urban Living, Urban workspaces, historic preservation, ideas for Dayton Ohio, leadership, livable cities, urban redevelopment
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