Downtown Dayton is the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, United States. Major reinvestment in the downtown area began heavily in the mid-1990s, and continues today with $2 billion in residential, commercial, health, and transportation developments that has or is taking place in the downtown area. While much of the city's population decamped to surrounding suburbs in the second half of the 20th century, downtown Dayton has begun to gain population again since the early 2000s with a 96-98 percent housing occupancy rate. Downtown Dayton is home to 42,000 employees, 2,000 residents, and more than 7 million yearly visitors. It is also becoming one of the most technology oriented and high-tech friendly downtowns in the United States.

Education

Downtown is home to Sinclair Community College and the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

. Sinclair community college is the largest

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

at a single location in Ohio and one of the largest community colleges in the nation. Sinclair is acclaimed as one of the country's best community colleges. Sinclair was founded as the YMCA college in 1887. The University of Dayton is a private,

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

institution. It is Ohio's largest

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

and is one of the top 10 Catholic universities in the United States. UD is also home to the University of Dayton Research Institute which ranks second in the nation for sponsored research, and the Center for Tissue Regeneration and Engineering at Dayton which focuses on human tissue regeneration.

Entertainment

Entertainment in the downtown Dayton area is diverse. Downtown is home to the

Dayton Art Institute The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% ...

which is a museum of fine arts that owns collections containing more than 20,000 objects spanning 5,000 years of art and archaeological history. The Dayton Art Institute was rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. Along with the Dayton Art Institute, there are also other arts in the downtown area. The Dayton Region ranked 33rd in the nation out of 373 metropolitan areas in

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

. The Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton is a world-class performing arts center and the home venue of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Opera, and the Dayton Ballet. In addition to

Philharmonic An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, a ...

and

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

performances, the Schuster Center hosts concerts, lectures, traveling Broadway shows, and is a popular spot for weddings, and other events. The historic Victoria Theatre, located in downtown Dayton, hosts

concerts A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

, traveling Broadway shows,

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, a summertime classic film series, and more. The Loft Theatre, also located downtown, is the home of the Human Race Theatre Company. Downtown Dayton is the home of the Dayton Ballet, one of the oldest professional dance companies in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Company runs the Dayton Ballet School, the oldest dance school in Dayton and one of the oldest in the country. It is the only ballet school in the Miami Valley associated with a professional dance company. Additionally, Dayton is home to the Gem City Ballet and Progressive Dance Theater, companies in residence at the Pontecorvo Ballet Studio. The

Oregon District The Oregon Historic District is a neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio. The Oregon District includes one of the earliest surviving combinations of commercial and residential architecture in Dayton. Examples of Dayton's architectural history from 1820 ...

is a historic residential and commercial district in southeast downtown Dayton. The district is populated with

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

, specialty shops,

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

nightclubs A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and ...

, and

coffee houses A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

. Not far from the Oregon District is the PNC Second Street Market a public market owned by Five Rivers MetroParks.

Nightlife

Downtown Dayton is home to over 70 nightclubs and over 130 restaurants/bars. Most of the nightlife is concentrated near the Oregon District, Fire Blocks District, and around the Ballpark (Webster Station). Downtown Dayton has an eclectic choice of sports bars, raves, lounges, pubs, musical bars, and holes in the wall. The Fire Blocks District is home to four LGBT friendly clubs and businesses. There are many local bands that play at pubs and musical bars in the

as well.

Sports

Downtown Dayton is host to the

Dayton Dragons The Dayton Dragons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Dayton, Ohio, and play their home games at Day Air Ballpark. In 2011, they broke the record for most ...

baseball team, and the

Dayton Flyers The Dayton Flyers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Dayton of Dayton, Ohio. All Flyers intercollegiate sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I level. The football team ...

NCAA division one basketball team. The

is Dayton's only professional baseball team and is the minor league affiliate for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. The Dayton Dragons are the first (and only) team in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

history to sell out an entire season before it began and was voted as one of the top ten hottest tickets to get in all of professional sports by

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

. The Dayton Flyers play at The

University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility hoste ...

, which hosted 82 games in the NCAA men's basketball tournament over its history, making it the second most prolific venue in NCAA history and the most prolific among active venues, with the most recent being first and second round games of the 2017 tournament.

Recent developments

CareSource Management Group in 2009, completed construction of a $55 million corporate headquarters at the corner of Main Street and Monument Avenue in downtown Dayton. The , 10-story building marks downtown's first new office tower in more than a decade. Along with this construction was built a new seven-floor parking garage that accommodates 1,200 vehicles. The facility represents an investment downtown of approximately $20 million. Since NCR vacated its world headquarters near downtown Dayton, the University of Dayton Research Institute announced that they would be relocating to the former National Cash Register world headquarters building. The former HQ and the surrounding land came under acquisition of the University of Dayton at a purchase price of $18 million. Downtown Dayton has also seen numerous residential developments, most notably in the Water Street District announced in mid-2013. Transportation projects in Downtown Dayton have also been on the rise. The

Ohio Department of Transportation The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT; ) is the administrative department of the government of Ohio, Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all List of In ...

is currently in the process of $533 million of construction to modify and reconstruct I-75 through downtown Dayton. ODOT is upgrading and widening I-75 from Edwin C Moses Blvd. to Stanley Avenue. Many downtown bridges are also being upgraded. In 2010, the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan was announced. The Plan represents a vision for Dayton's center city that focuses on strengthening connections and creating a downtown attractive to investors, businesses, employees, residents, students and visitors. This vision focuses on the potential of Greater Downtown to become an authentic urban center and the catalyst for Dayton's regional economy. The plan focuses on housing opportunities, and creating an inviting environment for businesses to relocate and stay in the downtown area. The plan will also home in on what makes downtown Dayton unique and build on it. This includes downtown arts, sports, health care, and entertainment. Face-lifts and improvements such as gateway projects, repaving, and upgrading building facades are also part of the plan.

References

External links

Downtown Dayton Partnership
{{Content, date=May 2019 Neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

Tourist attractions in Dayton, Ohio Economy of Dayton, Ohio