Where are these projects Now?
Dayton's $365 Million Makeover
With more than 25 projects either done or underway across every corner of Dayton and over $365 million being invested, I thought I’d report on what’s actually being built, what’s opened, and what’s still a hole in the ground. So today, we’re doing a full check-in.
What’s going on everybody, welcome back. If you live in or around Dayton, Ohio, you know this city has been buzzing with construction activity for a few years now. Whether you’re driving past a crane on Fourth Street or you’ve noticed a new hotel pop up where there used to be nothing — all of that is part of a massive, coordinated wave of investment. Today we’re tracking the biggest projects and giving you a “where are they now” update.
Let’s start downtown.
Deneau Tower
Okay, let’s start with arguably the most dramatic before-and-after in this entire development story: The Deneau Tower.
This 22-story mid-century modern skyscraper at 40 West Fourth Street sat completely vacant for years — basically abandoned since Premier Health moved out back in the 2010s. Windsor Companies stepped in, poured over $50 million into the building, and pulled off what a lot of people said couldn’t be done: turning a massive vacant office tower into luxury apartments.
And the good news? It’s open. People are living there. Tenants started moving in on April 1st, 2025. The building now has 147 residential units — studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and six penthouse suites spread across floors 7 through 22. There’s also a gym, a resident coffee bar and lounge, a commercial restaurant space on the ground level, and a connected parking garage. They even used first-of-its-kind vacuum-insulated glass to make it one of the most energy-efficient residential buildings in the region.
Rents run from around $1,075 for a studio up to $2300 for a two-bedroom — and as of early 2026, they’re still actively filling units, with move-in promotions available. The building sits right across the street from the Dayton Arcade, which we’ll get to in a second — and city leaders say that corridor is now one of the most exciting blocks in all of downtown.
Windsor Companies’ designer Jason Dorsey said he wanted to give Dayton something it had never seen before. His words: “The building is art.” A lot of people who’ve walked through it seem to agree.
Dayton Convention Center
Next up — the Dayton Convention Center. The center, originally built in 1973, was got its first major overhaul since the late 1980s — a $45 million facelift from top to bottom.
Well, I’ve got great news: it’s done. The ribbon was officially cut on June 27th, 2025, and the community open house that followed drew massive crowds eager to see what $45 million buys you.
Here’s what changed: the entire facility was reimagined from the ground up — new Gem City Ballroom, a brand-new “Flex Hall” that can function as either a ballroom or an extension of the 63,000-square-foot exhibit hall, modernized meeting rooms, a new outdoor terrace with views of the Levitt Pavilion, state-of-the-art A/V systems, new lighting, new HVAC, and a striking digital marquee on the exterior.
In October 2025, management firm Legends Global signed a 10-year contract extension through 2036 to continue running the place — a sign that everyone sees serious long-term potential here. The center is already booking events out to 2030, including the Ohio Economic Development Association’s 2026 Annual Summit — the first time that event has ever been held in Dayton.
And there’s still more coming: Elevate Café and Bar is set to open on the ground floor facing East Fifth Street. It’ll be a café by day and a bar at night, with a seasonal patio connecting to the Levitt Pavilion outdoor music venue next door. That adds a year-round anchor to the street, which has long needed it.
The Dayton Arcade
Alright — the Dayton Arcade. This one deserves its own documentary, honestly, and if you haven’t been there recently, you are sleeping on one of the coolest spaces in Ohio right now.
The final phase of the Arcade’s massive multi-year redevelopment has been completed now that the 93-room Hilton Garden Inn, a retail marketplace under the iconic skylight, and event space open for business.
Here’s where things stand now: The Hilton Garden Inn Dayton Downtown officially opened in May of 2025.The general manager called it “nearly eight years in the making.” The hotel closed the loop on the Arcade’s revitalization — and it gave downtown a third operating hotel.
Then in March 2026, the North Arcade itself had its grand opening — a friends-and-family retail reveal on March 6th, followed by a weekend packed with shopping, dining, wellness pop-ups, and events. The 7,500-square-foot marketplace beneath that stunning historic skylight is now open for small-format local retailers, with additional tenants expected to fill out throughout 2026.
The Mainline
Now here’s one that is a personal milestone for a lot of Daytonians: the Centre City Building. This 21-story skyscraper at the corner of Fourth and Main — Dayton’s very first skyscraper, originally built in 1904 — has been sitting completely vacant since around 2012. For over a decade, it’s been an eyesore, a risk, and a heartbreak for anyone who loves downtown.
But things are finally, actually happening.
Developers Model Group and Cross Street Partners — the same team behind the Arcade — were planning a $110 million conversion into about 217 housing units. The city approved $6 million in funding toward the project.
In January 2025, the Montgomery County Land Bank officially took over the property to handle acquisition and remediation. Environmental cleanup — removing all interior walls, flooring, lighting, and plaster across all 21 floors — was scheduled to be complete by the end of 2025. Abatement work was actively underway by early 2026.
The building has been rebranded as “The Mainline.” The latest plans call for 121 residential units — a mix of market-rate, workforce, and affordable housing — plus commercial retail on the ground floor. In late March or early April 2026, the city approved a new $2 million grant agreement to the developer to further advance the project, specifically targeting accessible and affordable units. The RTA also stepped in with $10 million to help acquire and renovate the attached Air City Garage, which had long been a major sticking point.
Full financial closing is expected in spring 2026. This one is finally within reach.
onMain
This might be the single biggest long-term project in all of Dayton, and it just crossed a major threshold.
onMain is a partnership between the University of Dayton and Premier Health to redevelop the former 38-acre Montgomery County Fairgrounds on South Main Street. The vision: a full innovation district — offices, housing, retail, research space, parks — that could eventually host 3,000 jobs and 1,600 housing units. Big, big vision.
Infrastructure work was completed over the summer of 2025. Then in September 2025, onMain broke ground on its first commercial building — the “Think Dayton Building.” This 120,000-square-foot Digital Transformation Center at South Main and West Stewart streets will serve as the district’s innovation anchor, funded in large part by $35 million from Ohio’s Innovation Hubs program. The building is projected to open in 2027.
They also completed the historic Roundhouse restoration — new windows, doors, and a full repaint of the 1800s-era structure, made possible with federal funding from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner’s office. The Roundhouse will eventually become a community gathering space within the district.
In February 2026, onMain released an updated master plan with new design guidelines laying out what the next several years of development will look like. Phase 1 is expected to also include approximately 170 new rental housing units. This thing is no longer a dream — it’s a construction site.
West and Northwest Dayton
let’s talk about West and Northwest Dayton.
Gettysburg Grocery — also called GG — opened in January 2025. This was a $20 million project by nonprofit Homefull on the former Carlson school. It brought a full-service grocery store to a neighborhood that desperately needed one — along with a pharmacy and a Kettering Health primary care office. It’s Phase 1 of a planned healthy living campus for the 16-acre property.
Ohio’s very first QuikTrip opened in June 2024 at 2121 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd. in the Edgemont neighborhood — a $9 million investment that brought a modern travel center and fuel station to an area that had little commercial activity.
The new West Patrol District police station along West Third Street is under construction. Construction has been ongoing, and city leaders hope the multimillion-dollar facility will serve as a safety anchor and an economic catalyst for the surrounding area — especially near the Wright Brothers airplane factory site, which is being targeted for future redevelopment.
Germantown Crossing — the 50-unit subsidized apartment building by Greater Dayton Premier Management is underway and part of the effort to replace aging units at DeSoto Bass Courts.
And in Northwest Dayton, the $70 million Magnus Capital Partners workforce housing project in the Five Oaks neighborhood was expected to break ground in 2025 — 260 new apartments on a 13-acre site along Homewood and Forest Avenues. City planners called it “fundamentally impactful” for Five Oaks.
Now let’s talk about the healthcare corridor in Old North Dayton, because there is a LOT happening up there.
Dayton Children’s $110 million behavioral health facility — a freestanding mental health hospital with 48 inpatient beds, a crisis center, and outpatient services has opened— Based on available information, that building came online and significantly expanded access to pediatric mental health care in the region, doubling the number of beds available.
Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton — which serves families of children receiving medical care — was working on a new $29 million facility at 555 Valley St. to replace its old building and expand from 14 rooms to as many as 42. As of early 2026, that project has recently completed its redevelopment, according to Dayton Children’s itself, which announced a brand-new rehabilitation services building will be built on the adjacent parking lot. That new rehab facility — for physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy — is expected to break ground in June 2026.
Dayton Children’s is also investing in a new $10 million pediatric urgent care clinic in West Dayton near DeSoto Bass Courts — which would be the first urgent care within Dayton city limits — and a $13 million kinship care housing project in Old North Dayton for grandparents, aunts, and uncles raising family members’ children.
The northeast and south sides of Dayton are becoming a genuine healthcare destination.
Up at the Dayton International Airport, Sierra Nevada Corporation had already opened its second hangar in September 2024 — a $46 million investment that created 50 new jobs and retained 64 more. The company planned two additional hangars, expected to cost around $100 million combined, set to open in October 2025 and February 2026.
Based on the timeline Sierra Nevada laid out, both of those hangars should now be open or very close to it — putting total investment from the company at approximately $150+ million on the airport campus. This is a massive win for the aviation and defense economy that the Dayton area has long built its identity around.
So, what’s the big picture takeaway from all of this?
Dayton is not just talking about a comeback — it is building one, project by project, neighborhood by neighborhood. The Deneau is full of residents. The Convention Center just had its best renovation in 50 years. The Arcade is finally complete after nearly a decade of work. The Centre City Building — which people had given up on multiple times — is now actively being remediated and renamed “The Mainline.” onMain broke ground on its first building. West Dayton got a grocery store and an urgent care. And the healthcare district up in Old North Dayton keeps expanding.
Is everything perfect? No. There are still vacant lots, still neighborhoods that need more investment, still projects that are behind schedule. That’s real. But if you compare where Dayton stood five years ago versus where it stands today — this is a genuinely different city.
If you want us to dive deeper on any of these individual projects — the Mainline, onMain, the West Side development, or whatever you’re most curious about — drop it in the comments. We read every single one.
If you’re even thinking about moving to Dayton, do not start looking at homes yet—because where you buy right now matters more than most people realize. Some areas are about to benefit from all of this investment… and others just aren’t.
I put together a relocation guide that shows you exactly where that growth is happening so you don’t make a decision you regret later.
It’s linked below—go grab it before you make a move.