So you sit there in your suburban easy chair, thinking nobodygives a darn about that empty old building downtown? Wrong.
Last weekend, pegged to the news that longtime owner Tom Danisgave the Arcade to local property redeveloper Anthony Staub, we askedreaders how to make the structure at Dayton's heart start beatingagain. We got dozens of suggestions - everybody agreeing that, asJoAnn Davidson of Centerville put it, downtown needs `a shot ofsomething electrifying.'
The ideas for what that something might be fell, for the mostpart, around one or a combination of these uses:
* Condominiums and/or apartments.
* A hotel.
* Dining, usually in a combination of lunchtime, high-end and asports bar.
* A museum, focusing either on local history, kids' activities,aviation or local hall-of-famers.
* An arts center with studio, loft and gallery spaces.
* A shopping mall/entertainment center, including coffee shops,special stores and a cyber-cafe.
* A casino.
And there were a couple of left-field suggestions that surprisedus, too. Common themes through the e-mails concerned parking (`solveit and people will come') and security (Tom Glaser of Dayton saidteens should be controlled, a la the Dayton Mall, and all panhandlersshould be banned from the place).
On a positive note, many people asserted that with loft housing,baseball and more visible arts, downtown is a different place fromthe days when the last Arcade plans fell apart in the late 1980s.
Here we present a sampling of what came in. And, a note to Mr.Staub: Everyone who wrote wished you good luck.
* Prom space. Diane Mitchel of Beavercreek imagines a grandsocial space. `After watching The Apprentice last week, I watchedthe teams try to rent out the penthouse of Trump Tower for $40,000 anight to various party planners; granted, we're not NYC, but rentingthe central arcade, under the splendid glass dome, seems like a greatidea. What a grand space to hold weddings, proms, galas and the like!If some caterer were smart, they'd set up shop on the premises.'
* Farm market. Gretchen Cleaves has something a bit earthier inmind. `It should become what it started to be, and that is a farmer'smarket similar to the Webster Street. It could be a year-aroundmarket with shops, maybe a restaurant or two.'
* Hotel concepts. Jeanette Kruer Eshbaugh of Miamisburg proposesthe `Sleep Inn Arcade,' patterned after Akron's Quaker Square, whichreused old grain silos. She would turn the Arcade into a tourism spotthat would combine upstairs sleeping rooms named after prominentDaytonians (the Orville Room, etc.), a breakfast/lunch cafe andsports bar downstairs. `Some of the area could be used as a historicmuseum with items on display such as the gold cash register,airplane, Erma's books, etc., plus a gift shop.' Add a conferencecenter and underground parking, she adds. `In Chattanooga, peoplefight to stay in old train cars. Dayton's `Sleep Inn Arcade' would beanother `must' for travelers.'
* History museum. Lots of votes for this one. `The Arcade wouldbe a beautiful place to store and display historic exhibits inventedin Dayton. A news article recently told of cash registers taken outof storage (at the Montgomery County Historical Society ResearchCenter) and displayed at Carillon Park,' one reader wrote. `It's ashame these artifacts are stashed away collecting dust. Family andfriends would come downtown to see this.'
`I think this would be a great idea given the fact that the Arcadehas so much history associated with it,' Fran Duell of Dayton said.
Al Yarcho of Kettering writes: `In conjunction with the Air ForceMuseum, create a Children's Air Force Museum in the Arcade. Like COSIin Columbus and the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, the museumwould be an interactive, hands-on, fun learning experience forchildren of all ages. Think of the interest and traffic somethinglike that could create. School field trips, out-of-state visitors,family outings - a destination place for downtown 52 weeks of theyear.'
* Art center. Local sculptor and artist Jim Moser of HarrisonTwp.: `Dayton has developed a pretty fertile arts community over thepast few years. With the recent opening of the Schuster Center andnumerous new galleries, Dayton has staked part of its future on thearts. I suggest that Mr. Staub looks to develop the arcade as acenter for the arts in the center of town. I know that the DaytonVisual Arts Center is looking for a larger, more prominent space topromote its members. Jane Black (director of DVAC, now located acrossFourth Street from the Arcade complex) mentioned her desire to expandthe `Affordable Portable' Christmas gift gallery into a year-roundshop, where DVAC members could market their work. As the rentincreases at the `hipster' Cannery building, I could see K12 lookingfor a new home with high visibility and access to practicing artists.
`The unattractive, under-developed spaces within the Arcadecomplex would make great artist's lofts. This would allow Mr. Staubto collect a reasonable rent without having to risk capital bypouring money into outdated buildings. In turn, these artists wouldthen have a venue to promote their work. As an artist, this seemslike a very attractive option.
`Throw in a reasonably priced restaurant or bistro (where astarving artist could afford to eat) and regularly scheduledopenings, art auctions and art hops and I think you'd have a prettysuccessful venue.'
* Senior Citizens Assisted Living Center. Bill Engel suggests,'This would make an ideal setting for the elderly, who used topatronize the downtown area. My Mom, who is 83, still talks abouttaking the bus downtown to do her shopping and just see what's goingon.'
* Teen spot. Norma Napoles suggests a kid- and teen-friendlyentertainment complex similar to the one on the levee in Newport, Ky.`Restaurants, ice creamery, patisserie, shops, art galleries andshops. It would also be nice to have a bowling alley and billiardhall that was smoke-free and family-oriented.'
* Casino. Opines Dorothy Keyes: `I like to gamble and go toIndiana quite often and find that 75 percent of the cars in theArgosy parking lot have Ohio plates. I don't like giving my money toIndiana, but since Ohio does not allow gambling, I am forced to gothere or other places. If you want people to come downtown you haveto offer what they want - and it seems like casinos are the answer.All you need is good safety and a parking garage.'
Mark Stokoe even had a business plan. `(1) Find 25 descendants ofMiami Indians. (2) Help them achieve tribal status. (3) Staub sellsthe Arcade back to the city. (4) The city offers them the land underthe Arcade as their new reservation, with the provision they rent thebuildings in perpetuity from the city. (5) The tribe creates anonprofit foundation (its board consisting of Indians and Daytonofficials) that opens a casino on the new reservation, upgrades thefive existing buildings, brings hundreds of jobs back to downtownDayton from the riverboats in Indiana, which in turn provides astable source of income for city-wide redevelopment from the rent/proceeds the city collects. We get a restored Arcade, restaurants,jobs, downtown night life, and Ohio money back in Ohio. Everybodywins.'
* Outlet mall. Denise Dean was one of several readers whosuggests an Arcade featuring outlet shops such as JC Penney, LizClaiborne, Marshall/T.J. Maxx, Children's Place and others. `Don'tforget a small food court and game room,' she notes.
* Self-contained apartment/condo complex. Gene Beare: `Make itinto offices, condos and a mini-Kroger store. With all the lofts andcondos that have been sold in recent months, a Kroger store seemslike a natural.'
Said another reader, along the same lines: `In Toronto, Canada,before a builder can erect a condo/apartment community it must alsoprovide service infrastructure to support that community. Having saidthat, why can't there be laundromats, a grocery store similar toDorothy Lane/Woody's, dry cleaners, shops plus entertainment tooccupy the space, with apartments above. It must be something soabsolutely unique and special and not available in the suburbs.'
* Hall of fame. Scott Kuhnen, a member of the Dayton AmateurSoftball Commission: `Centralizing Dayton's various Halls of Fameinto one location and into a building that has history as itsarchitectural theme would seem to make sense. Anyone who comes fromout of town to visit family or friends and also has a connection topeople (even themselves) in Dayton's Hall of Fame would bring thosefriends and family to walk inside.'
* Creative thinking: And one idea we never would have thought of,from David Drury, Kettering: `I think the Arcade downtown would makea wonderful bird aviary like the one in Pittsburgh. The structure isan ideal environment with the glass ceiling and rotunda design. Thetheme of birds and flight fits within the context of Dayton'saviation heritage; and I believe families would come to see it on aSunday afternoon, if the price was kept reasonable. Or, perhaps abotanical garden.'
Contact Ron Rollins at 225-2165.
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A CLOSE-UP LOOK AT THE ARCADE'S NOOKS AND CRANNIES, WITH ITS NEWOWNER
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