Why Doesn't Xenia Have a Traditional Downtown? Tornado? (Cincinnati, Dayton: apartment complexes, crime)

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It all depends upon demographics I suppose. Here in Northern Virginia I'm bemoaning the fact that nearly every new "infill" project being brought to the table that would provide more housing or retail/dining/professional services options are all very upscale. For example, new apartments that have been built near to the East Falls Church Metrorail station (roughly 8 or 9 stops from Downtown DC) are now going for $1,900/month for 1-BR units. As someone who only earns a $50,000 salary and craves urbanity it's increasingly frustrating that all I can afford in the DC area is the "Beavercreek" lifestyle (i.e. cul-de-sacs and strip malls). This is one of the reasons why I've zeroed in on the Dayton area because someone on my salary could probably easily afford a 1-BR apartment in the city proper of Dayton (or perhaps in Xenia for that matter).

I just think a place like Xenia, a community stricken by tragedy in the past, would be better-served by trying to evolve into an even better community than the one it was before 1974. Would that involve redeveloping Xenia Square into a more usable parcel of land? Yes.

Greensburg, Kansas was nearly entirely leveled a couple of years ago by a tornado. Their response? They are building a "green" Greensburg that will be a model for other communities to follow. If Greensburg can do it, then why can't Xenia do it nearly 40 years later?

I'll go out on a limb and gather that your attraction to Ohio might be the Rust Belt authenticity of the place. However, as others have mentioned, the median income here is a fraction of what you're used to in the DC metro. You would be in for a dramatic lifestyle change, which is what it sounds like you want.

I like DC, but I'm not so sure about Northern Virginia and what I like to refer to as Southern Maryland. It would seem you have hundreds of square miles of suburbia there. Xenia is severely depressed economically though; I actually lived there for a few months while in college back in the 90s. Its situation is probably nothing like that of Greensburg, Kansas, and it is not as progressive as NoVa, or PG County, Gaithersburg, etc.

[ohio_peasant]

I moved to a rural area south of Xenia about a dozen years ago, having spent most of my so-called formative years in the DC suburbs and elsewhere on the urbanized coasts. The Dayton region as a whole has suffered grievously with the deindustrialization of America, lacking the white-collar opportunities to replace lost blue-collar jobs. Visiting the Dayton Engineers Club, I was amazed at the parade of brilliant and transformative local inventions from the late 19th century through the mid 20th. But the past 4 decades have been harsh. Dayton is emblematic of the entire Midwest, and Xenia of Dayton. Pondering what’s disconcerting about Xenia, I wonder less about the town itself, or even the region, than about a vast swath of America struggling under multi-generational burdens whose solution lies far beyond the purview of city leaders or local taxpayers.

Xenia was of course devastated by the 1974 tornado, but an economically vibrant community can recover even from catastrophic tragedy and continue to thrive. The dead won’t be replaced, but new generations will continue and will thrive anew. What’s stymied Xenia wasn’t poor architectural choices in the 1970s, but declining economic vitality that a small town by itself couldn’t reverse. Xenia is actually fairly well positioned to benefit from the region’s only large and stable employer – Wright-Patterson – but as others have posted, for some reason the base’s footprint ends in western Greene County at the western fringes of Xenia Township, and not Xenia City.

Returning to the original poster’s observations, my personal feeling is that downtown Xenia is not atypical for the region in terms of size or tempo. Its major flaw is the lack of restaurants, cafes and the like. Most extant downtown establishments are associated with the country courthouse: attorneys’ offices, for example. I’m surprised that Xenia’s being the county-seat and in proximity of several universities (Central State, Cedarville, Antioch) does not result in more of a student/café/youth culture. I don’t think that another shopping mall is the answer, but perhaps there might be some impetus for independent restaurateurs in the Dayton region to consider opening a satellite branch in Xenia. Rent should be low, and there are plenty of motivated workers available.

[Dayton Sux]

^
There isnt much of an indepedent restaurant scene in Dayton...not enough to support branches in Xenia.

Xenia is or was sort of a blue-collar place all along. From what I heard the Tornado tore out more than just the Main Street, but also a bunch of older victorian homes.

So perhaps the place recieved a double-whammy. The houses that would have been restored and become homes to maybe a more yuppie/professional element were possibly lost, and the Main Street was certainly lost.

That shopping center that was rebuilt to replace Main Street met the fate of a lot of older strip centers...changing retail trends made it and the stores in it obsolsecent. So there it sits. Even if there wasnt a tornado the Main Street would have had the same problems the shopping center now has.

There is still retail in Xenia...its just out at the edge of town and its more "big box retail"

[ohio_peasant]

There actually is a reasonable smattering of independent restaurants in towns such as Riverside, which by economic status are comparable to Xenia. I actually spoke with an owner of a Riverside Greek food restaurant about opening a second branch in Xenia. He listened politely, then laughed the idea off as being ridiculous.

[Ohioan58]

Xenia is a blue collar hick town. Food in Xenia means Cracker Barrel or Bob Evans. The proximity of three decent sized colleges close to Xenia doesn't count for much of anything, because Xenia is hick and is probably only a grocery and gas station stop for most Antiochans or Cedarvillites. Affluent or picky/trendy/hipster types in the immediate area will shop in Yellow Springs, Fairborn, The Greene, or the Dayton Mall areas.

[Rick Lantz]

Looks like there is a new development coming soon.

Xenia's Word on the Street!: Changes To Xenia Town Square

[313 TUxedo]

There sure seems to be universal disapproval for the construction of Xenia Square on this thread, and, it does seem to have been a bad idea in the long run.

However, try to think about what Xenia's options were in the mid-1970s. Sure, they could have used the land to build a collection of several cute faux-Victorian shops, in the 1-2,000 sq. ft. range, with a bus station and plenty of bicycle parking, but what would that have accomplished?

In 1974, "discount department" stores were not the wave of the future, they were THE reality then. The old "fair trade" laws were coming apart, and small, independent stores simply could not compete with the "power buying" of a chain like K-mart (i.e., mom-and-pop stores would have to pay suppliers more for a product than K-mart could sell it for at a profit).

If Xenia had built those smaller stores, instead of the shopping center, people would simply drive to the Dayton suburbs to shop at the big box stores. Those cute shops downtown would have doctors' offices, real estate and insurance agents, but the retail would now be thrift stores and novel stores for things like teddy bears and miché bags. Many of those storefronts would now be vacant.

Almost every western Ohio town between 5,000 and 75,000 population has a safe and walkable downtown missing only one thing - commerce! How would Xenia have fared any different, tornado or not?

[Dayton Sux]

^
I agree with this.

If one studies old aeriel photos of Xenia up to the Torando (from the Soil & Conservation Service files), the city was missing suburban strip center development, the kind youd see on the highways on the outskirts of town. So this was going to happen anyway...Xenia was due for this type of retail development, probably overdue, at the time of the Tornado.

The replacement of "Main Street" with an in-town strip center after the Tornado was sort of a premeptive strike, building what was probably invetiable in the heart of town instead of the outskirts.

[ohio_peasant]

Link above (post #26) doesn't seem to work (goes to Xenia newspaper site, but says "Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist").

I want to revisit my earlier question: Riverside, Huber Heights and Fairborn are demographically similar to Xenia, but offer much more by way of restaurants, bars and shops. Why?

[Ohio Hello]

^ Ohio_Peasant, the link was just formatted wrong. Try this.

Xenia's Word on the Street!: Changes To Xenia Town Square