West Dayton neighborhoods to undergo revitalization projects

DAYTON, Ohio ( WDTN ) — Five Dayton neighborhoods are getting revamped thanks to a project yielding more than $80 million in investments.

Hilltop Homes and Desoto Bass Courts are next on the list for Greater Dayton Premier Management (GDPM) and the city of Dayton, with a combined 234 units to be demolished and redeveloped.

There are more than 150 units in the Hilltop neighborhood. The GDPM says the homes are outdated, no longer meeting the modern needs of residents.

“Could we rehab the property? And the needs far exceeded what we could afford and what it would cost to build new. And so we felt that it was a property that we needed to take out of our inventory and relocate residents to better units,” said Kiya Patrick, vice president of strategic development with GDPM.

The plan for Hilltop is to expand the park currently next to the complex.

Patrick says there are still roughly 30 units that are being occupied and they hope to have those residents relocated by June.

“Many residents have been able to take advantage of the Housing Choice Voucher program, where they receive a Housing Choice Voucher and they go into the open market and have been able to find units to rent,” said Patrick.

Desoto Bass Courts is Dayton’s oldest and largest public housing neighborhood, built in 1945. The plan for this area includes several phases, beginning with the redevelopment of 84 units and the teardown and replacement of 350 units.

“We’ve been funded for the first two phases of rebuild. We are awaiting the final approval from HUD to tear down the 84 units to make way for the first two on-site phases. We are anticipating we should have approval by June, July, no later,” said Patrick.

Patrick says all but 12 residents in phase one have been related to other units on site.

For Hilltop Homes, the Public Housing Authority has received approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to begin demolition. The project is now accepting contractor bids.

The GDPM is hoping the Hilltop Homes will be knocked down this summer. As for Desoto Bass Courts, the goal is to have those down by fall with construction starting as early as this winter.

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