New owner planning to breathe new life into downtown Dayton high-rise

It’s Dayton’s second tallest building and a fixture on the skyline, but the KeyBank building is about two months away from being empty.

A new, local businessman has an option to buy the building and bring new life to the 27-story tower.

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Both KeyBank and the Downtown Dayton Partnership plan to move their employees out in the next two months, but what could have been devastating is now an opportunity because of a planned sale to Stratachache owner Chris Riegel.

Stratachache bought the former Kettering Tower several years and now the owner is planning to step across the street, over to the high-rise.

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell reached out to Riegel Thursday afternoon and he said, “It’s inspiring.”

In a phone conversation with Campbell, Riegel said the KeyBank tower is a key piece of the downtown skyline, it’s fallen to disrepair the last 10 years, but it is fixable. The building has tremendous potential, it just needs some TLC and they’re going into this with energy coupled with realism.

The tower’s development in the 1970′s called for the city to have a review over any sale transfer. They’ve asked Riegel to commit to at least a $4 million investment plan, filling 85,000 square feet of space and putting at least 90 employees there.

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Commissioners approved their part of that sale unanimously.

“Actually, we’re thrilled to have a local investor who has a commitment to the city of Dayton,” Shelley Dickstein, Dayton City Manager said.

Riegel is planning to begin his takeover and move into the building sometime after the first of the year.