State budgets $1 million for Arcade, millions more for area projects

Millions are budgeted for Dayton-area capital spending projects in the newest state capital spending budget, including $1 million to help remake the downtown Dayton Arcade.

The Arcade money is set aside specifically for a “Dayton Arcade Innovation Hub.”

Late last year, in a prioritization project guided by the Dayton Development Coalition, $2 million had been requested toward the Arcade project.

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The joint venture with the University of Dayton and the Entrepreneurs Center is to be for a mix of research, academics, experiential learning, and entrepreneur support at the Arcade Center, which developers are working to renew. The Arcade has been closed since the early 1990s.

A million is also set aside for a Dayton Aviation Park, according to the Ohio Senate Bill 266 budget outline that was just released Monday afternoon.

Another big ticket item identified in the budget is $1.5 million for a “Dayton History Heritage Center of Regional Leadership.”

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Also, $750,000 is budgeted for “historic stair and hillside” preservation work at the Dayton Art Institute.

For a “Dayton Hope Center for Families,” the budget calls for $725,000.

For something listed as “Dayton Project M&M,” $550,000 is budgeted. That may correspond to work at the new Dayton Levitt Pavilion downtown across from the Convention Center.

Local capital spending projects found in the newest Ohio capital budget include $200,000 for Dayton Children’s Hospital’s planned community health center.

Also found in the budget are $75,000 for a fiber optics expansion in Fairborn, $800,000 for a regional crisis stabilization center and detox unit and $200,000 for a proposed Webster Station Landing, which would essentially be a new river-front park near Dayton’s Tech Town business park.

A quarter of a million is outlined for a Dayton Society of Natural History Boonshoft exhibit. For the former Dayton Wright airplane factory off West Third Street, $150,000 is identified in the budget document.

More than $2.9 million is budgeted for Wright State University for an item listed as “Veterans and Workforce Gateways.” More than $2.5 million is budgeted for a “Wright State Campus Connector Building” on Wright State University’s Lake Campus in Celina.

Under projects for Sinclair Community College is $1 million for a Clinton County Airport Equipment and Facilities Complex.

In Downtown, $725,000 is listed for renovation of the “Historic YWCA Dayton Building.”

For a “Montgomery County Agricultural Facility,” $250,000 is budgeted.

In Springfield, $1.75 million is budgeted for a downtown parking facility.

And $250,000 is allocated for improvements to the Springfield Museum of Art.

In Kettering, $450,000 is allocated for renovation of the Rosewood Arts Center.

And $25,000 is listed for a Fairborn Military Fairborn Military Veterans Memorial.

Some of the projects are carry-forwards from previous spending bills.

Consideration of the capital budget is beginning. There will be a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, and that is expected to be the first hearing for the new budget. The committee is scheduled to meet again March 1.

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