The NCA is designed to assist the financing of the project by exercising its powers to charge certain community fees upon the NCA’s territory such as property assessments, added sales tax, and bed taxes, according to a staff report.
City Manager Paul Lolli called council’s vote “a big step forward” in the process that will create a board that will determine how tax dollars are spent on the development. The seven-person NCA board will consist of three Middletown residents, three appointed by Lolli and one City Council member, according to city documents.
The project is expected to include a 3,000-seat, multi-purpose Event Center, Class A retail and office, hotels, restaurants and a variety of residential products on the property, according to developer Todd Duplain from Woodard Development, a Dayton-based commercial real estate firm.
Duplain has said with the support of Middletown and Warren County leaders and private and public partnerships, “this thing is going to happen.”
The project would attract full-service, high-end hotels, premium and fast-food restaurants, townhomes that would sell in the $325,000 to $425,000 range and a medical complex that could complement the two East End hospitals, Atrium Medical Center and Kettering Health Middletown, he said.
Lolli called the development “a destination location” that will draw visitors seeking entertainment, dining and shopping options off Interstate 75.
“This is big for Middletown,” Lolli told this news agency after the meeting.
The biggest draw would be the multi-purpose Event Center that has the potential to host youth sporting events, mid-level concerts, conventions and high school graduations. To those residents concerned about excessive traffic, Duplain said the center won’t be another 13,435-seat University of Dayton Arena.
While the Event Center won’t open for at least two years, Martin Russell, executive director of the Warren County Port Authority, said it’s 65% booked, according to pre-lease agreements and letters of intent. He couldn’t release more details due to contractual agreements, he said.
The project could improve the quality of life for local residents and generate sales and property taxes, according to Duplain, who added the Event Center has the potential to draw 425,000 visitors a year.
He called it “a good, first-class front door on the East End.”
The city is pledging upwards of $4.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in support of the project. The city also will be responsible for installing certain public infrastructure improvements on and around the project site at an estimated cost of about $21.7 million to be funded through bonds secured by TIF revenue.
Russell said tourism, the largest industry in Warren County, generated $1.4 billion in 2021. He believes the Middletown project, located in Warren County, has the potential to create additional tourism dollars that will be spent throughout the region.
He said the city of Middletown and Warren County have “joint and mutual desires.”
RENAISSANCE POINTE PROJECT TIMELINE
NOVEMBER 2022: City Council unanimously approves City Manager Paul Lolli cancelling the city’s purchase agreement with George Ragheb, the California-based owner of the Towne Mall Galleria. Before that, council unanimously approved the city spending $1 million of the total $16 million price tag to purchase the Towne Mall, located just off I-75 near the Ohio 122 exit.
Dec. 6, 2022: City Council votes to purchase 29 acres of land for $6.2 million at the southeast corner of Union Road and Ohio 122 and adjacent to property the city already owns.
March 21, 2023: City Council hears first reading of legislation that will change the zoning classification for three parcels of land from business center to planned development district. The Planning Commission has recommended the request be approved.
April 4, 2023: City Council hears second reading of legislation that will change the zoning classification for three parcels of land from business center to planned development district.
July 18, 2023: Todd Duplain from Woodard Development and Martin Russell, executive director of the Warren County Port Authority, update City Council on the project. They say the 3,000-seat Event Center and other businesses could be open by the summer of 2025.
OCT. 3, 2023: City Council approves resolution to create the Renaissance Arena District New Community Authority (NCA) to aid in the financing of the planned multi-use development on 50.86 acres at Ohio 122 and Union Road in the city’s East End.
SOURCE: Journal-News archives
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