March 9, 2006

By Lauren Heaton

The new business and retail space that developer Matthew Arnovitz and architect Ted Donnell are planning to build downtown may be an answer to the prayers of local business owners who have been looking for room to expand.

“Village Station” will be located at 102 Dayton Street, next to the bikepath, where the old grain elevator once stood, and will provide enough space for approximately eight new businesses, Donnell said.

The developers have submitted concept plans for the 1.04-acre property to Village Planning Commission, which will hold a public hearing on the plans at its next regular meeting, on Monday, March 13, at 7 p.m., at the Bryan Community Center.

Plan board also has scheduled for that night a public hearing on a request to rezone 150 Railroad Street, a half-acre parcel just north of the Village Station site, from Residence “B” to Central Business District, the formal zoning designation for downtown.

Donnell and his wife, Karen Wintrow, who is a member of Village Council, own the property at 150 Railroad, where their architecture firm, K4 Greene Architecture, is located. Donnell said he hopes to upgrade K4 Greene building at some point in the future, and rezoning his property would improve “issues of access” to the Village Station property.

Expanding the Central Business District in this way is consistent with the goals of the Village Comprehensive Plan, Assistant Village Planner Ed Amrhein said.

The idea for the Village Station resulted from the noticeable lack of available business space in Yellow Springs, Donnell said last week.

“Almost without exception, people in town want to grow their businesses and find a place in town to do that,” he said. “But there hasn’t been a really decent space in town since I’ve been here.”

Arnovitz, whose family brokerage company, Arnovitz and Associates, has been developing in Xenia and Beavercreek Townships for almost 80 years, said he is excited about working on a project in Yellow Springs.

He plans to purchase in the next 60 to 90 days from Gerald Fess and Dancing Bear Enterprises, Ltd., the empty lot on which Village Station will be built, he said.

The developers hope to break ground this spring and be ready to accept tenants before the Christmas holidays, Donnell said. Though the project is still in its infancy, already nearly 80 percent of the space is spoken for, he said.

Concept plans for Village Station include a two-story building that totals between 16,000 and 18,000 square feet and fits in the general footprint of the old grain elevator. The lower level, separated by a breezeway, would target retail and mercantile businesses, and the upper level, connected by an enclosed walkway, would accommodate professionals and other businesses, Donnell said.

Donnell said he did not design the building intending to recreate history but to acknowledge the mass of the previous structure and the way it fits next to the railroad tracks, where the bikepath now runs.

Cars will enter from Dayton Street between Corner Books and the new building and will be able exit onto Railroad Street. The plans include about 40 parking spaces on the property, but Donnell stressed that the lot is only big enough to serve Village Station businesses.

Though the building will help accommodate some of Yellow Springs’ need for business space, Donnell said there are still many local businesses that want to locate downtown but cannot find the space to do it.

“This will open things up a bit, but this building isn’t even touching a fraction of the need,” Donnell said.

Referring to the planned commerce park at East Enon and Dayton-Yellow Springs Roads, he said, “There are businesses contiguous to downtown that want to stay downtown and aren’t interested in the Center for Business and Education, that’s for sure.”

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com