Dayton, OH — The University of Dayton and the Entrepreneurs’ Center recently opened the third floor space at The Hub at the historic arcade in downtown Dayton. The expansion of the space will increase capacity for small businesses and for larger academic classes.
The Arcade Innovation Hub Powered by PNC Bank downtown opened two years ago with the University of Dayton and the Entrepreneurs' Center as the two anchor tenants.
The Hub has co-working space for small business startups, private offices and learning labs classrooms for UD and Sinclair students.
The expanded third floor space, called the Upper Deck, was funded by a $3 million Congressional Community Project for the Hub.
Vincent Lewis, president of the Hub and UD associate vice president for entrepreneurial initiatives, said the new 13,000 square foot space is an expansion of the original $95 million dollar project, which, to date, has brought in $70 million in venture capital to Dayton.
“Just a few years ago, there were not 130 companies with several hundred employees housed in this space. There were not 550 students taking classes in this space,” Lewis said. “So that sort of that sort of vibrancy and engagement and just kind of rebirth of this urban core speaks a lot to the community.”
Scott Koorndyk, executive vice president of the Hub, said the delay of the third floor expansion was intentional because they wanted to know what worked and what didn’t.
“We know our members wanted private offices. We frankly didn't build enough private offices. So now we've got office capacity again,” Koorndyk said. “So yeah, this is a realization of a vision that started but was really perfected in what you see on the third floor now.”
The expansion includes a 100-seat classroom and meeting room and 46 additional private offices for a total of 118.
Since it opened in 2021, The Hub’s occupancy has grown from 14 to 130 member companies, and last semester it hosted 40 courses with more than 550 students from UD and Sinclair Community College.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
