“We are standing here together, excited to make the Xenia Market District a vibrant hub of activity, a place where we all as residents and visitors alike can come to shop, dine, ultimately to connect,” said Xenia Mayor Sarah Mays.
The city and Springboro-based developer Dillin have spent the last three years putting the plan to paper, with input from more than 2,200 residents.
“These are different types of projects that we do,” Dillin said. “They’re about creating neighborhoods, and trying to change the way the public perceives this community. So there’s multiple parts to it, but really it’s about understanding what the community needs.”
The $140 million Market District project aims to replace what is now Xenia Towne Square, a mostly vacant concrete slab stretching west from the intersection of Main Street and Detroit Street, into a walkable, vibrant city center with restaurants, retail, homes and more.
The plan also calls for more than $11 million in public infrastructure improvements, including a new North Galloway Street running between Main and Church Streets; a grand entrance boulevard on King Street; and the extension of Market Street from Church to King Street. The project also calls for a new promenade and gathering space.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“We’re recreating the street grid, we’ll be putting in a landscape plan, a new park,” Dillin said. “The promenade area will be cleaned up for public gathering as well as restaurants. So it’s primarily a new place where people can gather and be entertained.”
Dillin is also working to secure new leases for vacant storefronts near Acapulco Mexican Restaurant on the east side of the existing Towne Square development, he added.
Located in the heart of downtown Xenia, the original Xenia Towne Square shopping center was built after the 1974 tornado ravaged the neighborhood and stores that had been on the site.
The shopping center housed several anchor stores for a number of years, before the Fulmer Grocery closed in 2010. Other stores followed, as K-Mart closed in 2014, and the Hallmark store in 2015. Those buildings were eventually torn down.
The city had owned the land that Towne Square was built on since the tornado, but acquired the buildings and leasehold interest in 2021 from Blue Rock real estate firm. Most recently, the city took possession of the former Ramada Inn at the southwest corner of the Market District in 2022, and that structure will be demolished in early 2025.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
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