$30M downtown housing plan secures financing

Apartments, town homes will be near river and ball park.

Water Street developers have secured the financing to build 215 market-rate apartments, the first of which are expected to open by the end of summer.

Columbus-based Crawford Hoying Development Partners and Dayton-based Woodard Real Estate Resources said they closed on bank financing late last month for the $30 million residential part of the mixed-use development project, which is located north of Fifth Third Field.

The apartment complex will offer one- and two-bedroom units as well as town homes and features, such as a pool and space for meetings, outdoor grilling and fitness activities. The apartments are expected to cost about $785 to $1,579, depending on their size and amenities.

The new housing will capitalize on significant and growing interest in living downtown close to the river, RiverScape MetroPark, the ball park and major employment centers, said Bob Hoying, principal with Crawford Hoying, a real estate company.

“We’re excited to get started … we hope to deliver our first units later this year,” Hoying said.

Developers said they were confident the Water Street project would receive financing, but they admit the process took longer than expected. They said the size of the project grew, which likely slowed things down.

Original plans for Water Street called for about 150 apartments, in addition to the four-story office building and public parking garage. Overall investments were expected to be about $33.5 million.

Today, the project will cost about $45 million, with the residential component alone running about $30 million, said Jason Woodard, principal of Woodard Real Estate Resources.

With financing in place, the construction timeline will depend in part on the weather.

Site work is already underway, and vertical construction should begin in three or four weeks, Woodard said.

About 24 apartment units should open by late summer, and additional units should open by the end of the year, he said. All 215 units should be completed by late spring or early summer of 2016.

The apartment complex will consist of a pair of four-story buildings, as well as some town homes.

The office building nearby is nearly complete, and anchor tenant PNC Bank may move in by the summer. The company will occupy the top two floors.

Woodard said another company has signed a lease for space on the first floor of the building, but he declined to identify the tenant.

Dirt work will begin on the parking garage in the next couple of weeks, and the structure should be complete by the end of August, Woodard said.

“By spring, things will be really hot and heavy as it relates to construction underway,” said Shelley Dickstein, Dayton’s assistant city manager.

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