They said the Event Center and other businesses could be open by the summer of 2025.
Duplaine said what is being called Renaissance Pointe will be “a vey transformational project” for the city and could be a $200 million investment in the East End.
The Event Center will be the anchor of the development, and while it won’t open for at least two years, Russell 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.
“People want to be here,” said Russell, who added it has the potential to be the “destination” of southwest Ohio.
Duplaine added: “This is the time and this is the opportunity.”
He compared the possibility of the East End development to the rebirth seen in downtown Dayton in the late 1990s. At the time, he said, no one was investing in Dayton, not even the city. But when the city built a field for the Dayton Dragons, a Class A farm team of the Cincinnati Reds, that started what has become a $2 billion investment in that downtown area, he said.
The Event Center has the potential to draw 425,000 visitors a year who will be looking to patronize local businesses, Duplaine said.
The location of the project will benefit from being between two major markets, Dayton and Cincinnati, two hospitals, Atrium Medical Center and Kettering Health Middletown, and population growth to the East of Interstate 75.
The project will 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, Duplaine said.
Council member Rodney Muterspaw said the track record of the organizations Deplaine and Russell represent is “impeccable” so it’s “a no-brainer for me.”
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.
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