Dayton City Commission voted to approve $280,000 to enter into an agreement with a real estate consultant for the Wright brothers' airplane factory site on Wednesday.
The contract agreement comes after the historic building was heavily damaged by a fire last month. The roof of hangars one and two collapsed, the other three buildings were partially damaged by the fire although they are not historical.
The city will contract Dillin LLC, the same group that’s working on the Xenia Towne Square project and the new river district in West Carrollton. Dillin was also the group in charge of the West Social Tap and Table at the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood in West Dayton.
The goal of the contract is to create a master development plan for the city-owned 54-acre Wright factory site, according to Veronica Morris, the supervisor of economic development for Dayton.
“This is not a knee jerk reaction to the fire. This is something that the city has been really purposeful with and planning for at least the last 24 months,” Morris said. "This contract will allow us the opportunity to engage the community. It will allow us to look at market analysis and research and have someone on board to help the city look and think about this property every day."
The money is coming from the city commission discretionary fund. The city is also moving forward with the improvement of a 30-acre portion of the site. Morris said the city is preparing to invest about $2 million to add a top soil layer with grass and gravel walking trails near Abbey Avenue and Frontage Street leading to the Dayton West Branch Library.
Morris said the Department of Planning, Neighborhoods & Development already selected a contract and the project could start soon.
An internal city memo from the department of planning stated the fire damaged buildings will be included as part of the plan. The City of Dayton hasn’t released updates on how the fire started and it's still waiting on a structural engineering report about what can and cannot be salvaged.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
