More good news for Downtown Dayton and the Arcade:
Berg plans to start Arcade restoration in six months
PLYMOUTH, Wis. — One of the new owners of the Dayton Arcade plans to move here to personally oversee restoration and leasing of space in the city’s revered landmark.
East German-born Gunther Berg, a partner in Dayton Arcade, LLC, says he’s looking forward to leaving his footprint in Dayton. “I’ve lost already my heart in Dayton,” he said. “We have not hope (to restore the Dayton Arcade). We have will.”
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Restoration of the complex located in the heart of downtown will cost an estimated $30 million and span three years.
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Berg plans to keep Dayton residents updated on the restoration as it progresses. Plans are in the works to launch a Web site on which monthly progress reports will be posted. Work is expected to get under way in six months.
“We don’t like to do things where people are not involved,” Berg said. “We know already how important this job is to the people.”
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PLYMOUTH, Wis.— Gunther Berg seems a man of few words until you ask him about his vision for restoration of Dayton’s historic downtown arcade.
From his offices in a building he restored in downtown Plymouth, Wis., Berg talks of possibilities.
His plans are not dreamy-eyed — they are German-engineered.
The original architect of the Dayton Arcade — Frank Andrews, who also designed Dayton’s NCR factory buildings and the American Building at Third and Main streets — intended the complex to last 100 years. Berg, 46, feels a responsibility to match that.
“If we touch this building, it will be good for another 100 years,” he said. “The people with money backing us know we’re not just in it for the next five years. That’s the German way.”
Overall, the complex is not in bad shape, Berg said. Early estimates set restoration costs at $30 million.
Much of the task will center on stabilizing the buildings that make up the Arcade complex, then redoing poor craftsmanship from renovations completed in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Berg.
“You can’t mix the old materials with the new,” Berg said.
His expectation is that the Arcade, once restored, won’t look brand new. It will look like the grand old dame that it is. There is beauty in aging, Berg said. Just like a beautiful face, it is natural for weathered brick to have blemishes.
