Neighborhood group fighting $15 million project that aims to produce affordable housing

A Dublin, Ohio, developer claims that company can improve the Dayton View neighborhood and win the support of long-time residents, but the neighborhood association is fighting the plan.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:30 p.m., the developer, Dublin Capital Group, wants to invest $15 million in the project and at the same time keep housing affordable.

Dublin Capital is working with the non-profit County Corp. and the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority to make the project a reality. The three groups announced the plan in July, at a time when local and national news reports indicated that rents and house prices were skyrocketing.

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One of those long-time residents, Fred Hunter, said he wants the development of an apartment building on Cambridge Avenue lead to improvement on his street.

“It used to be lawyers and doctors living over there,” Hunter said.

“It’s an apartment building for the working class, you know, for starting teachers, policemen, firefighters,” said Brian Coate, Dublin Capital Group CEO. “Recent new families that are just looking to have a new apartment building in a neighborhood they grew up in.”

The plan is for the Cambridge Apartments II to have 47 units. Dublin Capital already owns the apartment complex -- called the Cambridge Apartments -- next to the project site.

“We really like this space because, for one, it’s right next to our existing building and it could offer some great operational efficiencies,” Coate said.

Despite support from three local organizations and the securing of some state financing, the Dayton View Historic District Association is not supporting the project.

“Ninety percent of the homes in the area are two story… it just doesn’t fit,” is the statement from association president Fred Holley.

Cambridge II will be four stories and include underground parking.

Dublin’s Coate said the developer has been adjusting the project to satisfy the historic district association.

“We offer potentially additional speed bumps with concern with traffic. We dramatically increase our parking,” he said.

That’s not enough, Holley said, “and even if it’s four stories, it is out of character for the neighborhood.”

The historic association’s non-support is so intense that it has filed suit this month asking the city of Dayton to rezone the project site to something other than high-density housing.

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