5 things to know about the momentum behind the Dayton Arcade project

PHOTOS: A look back at the Dayton Arcade

It’s a complicated, multi-piece effort for a complicated, multi-piece site — and there are no guarantees.

But here’s what to know about the Arcade project right now.

MORE: Developer sees momentum in creating Arcade apartments: 'An absolutely fantastic project'

1. It’s big. 

The Arcade itself is some nine buildings, with some structures stretching back more than 100 years. But it has been in a state of disuse for nearly 30 years.

Dayton Arcade Partners LLC and its affiliated partners look to acquire some four acres of real estate and some 400,000 square feet of building space, according to Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority documents.

PHOTOS: Must-see transformations done by new partners of the Dayton Arcade

2. It’s a team effort. 

Late last month, the city of Dayton agreed to loan $10 million to an Arcade development team led by Baltimore-based Cross Street Partners.

And on Monday, the Port Authority’s Board of Trustees agreed to enter into capital lease agreements with four limited liability companies that own the Arcade’s component parcels. Jerry Brunswick, executive director of the Port Authority, said those agreements will save an estimated $1 million in sales taxes on materials used to improve and build up the Arcade.

MORE: Port Authority pacts to save Arcade effort about $1 million. 

3. Dayton’s Miller-Valentine Group still has a role in the project.

Dayton-based Miller Valentine Group is still engaged with leasing and funding support of the Arcade project, said Dave Dickerson, the company’s Dayton market president.

The company did step away from the housing piece of the effort, this news outlet reported in March. 

Two urban redevelopment firms — Cincinnati-based Model Group and St. Louis-based McCormack Baron Salazar — signed on as partners in the Arcade work after Miller-Valentine’s withdrawal.

MORE: The Arcade will DEFINITELY reopen 

4. The Arcade vision has multiple elements.

There will be residential apartments and commercial elements. At different points, the University of Dayton, The Entrepreneurs Center and Sinclair Community College — as well as brewer Warped Wing, Boston Stoker coffee shop and the Dayton Visual Arts Center — have all been identified as possible tenants or have expressed interest in having a place at the new Arcade.

The Arcade itself could be home to 150 businesses — most of them quite small — and hundreds of workers, according to some estimates.

5. There’s now a timeline attached to the project.

Matters are moving quickly now.

The city of Dayton did agree to the aforementioned $10 million loan to the project. But that agreement requires that the developer begin construction on the commercial components of the southern section of the Arcade by the end of this year — and finish by March 31, 2020.

However, Cross Street says the goal is to finish those parts by November of 2019.

We’ll see what happens next.