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The JEDD board has been a driving force, said Snyder, Miami Twp.’s community development director, “to help market and represent the broader core of businesses” in the district, a 2.2 square mile zone centered at the Ohio 725/Ohio 741 intersection and formerly known as the Dayton Mall area.
Miami Crossing was launched in late 2015. That’s when the JEDD board adopted a long-range revitalization plan for the area around the mall, which opened in the early 1970s.
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The plan included a marketing assessment showing the district could — within 12 years — support $200 million in investment, including 1,200 multifamily residential units, and more than 350 new jobs from thousands of square feet of new retail and office space.
The JEDD plans to change its name to better promote the Miami Crossing District, records show. It also sponsors the district's website, miamicrossingdistrict.com, which was launched earlier year and lists more than 400 businesses.
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“For nearly 50 years, the businesses located along the 741/725 interchange have been the primary destination for shopping and dining in South Dayton,” according to the website’s homepage. “While we have served our community well, we see an unprecedented opportunity to evolve into something even greater.”
The website is the district’s digital hub and includes nearly 200 shopping options, about 145 service locations, more than 65 food choices, and nearly 20 lodging and entertainment options. But the JEDD is seeking other avenues to promote the district.
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Talks with the convention and visitor’s bureau, and lodging businesses, about collaborating to distribute information about the district are in the early stages, but appear to be “cost-effective” ways of promoting the territory, Snyder said.
The JEDD board is exploring advertising in a visitor’s bureau publication “that gets sent out…in their welcome packets and specifically goes out to groups ahead of when they’ve made that decision of where to stay in the region, which is kind of a challenge to reach those folks.”
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“If that gets people to come and stay in the hotels down here, it’s good for both jurisdictions – all of our businesses,” Snyder said.
“So that’s been kind of our focus from a marketing standpoint.”
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