“The partial collapse is not a dealbreaker,” Wittmer said. “It is an indicator of the urgency that the city of Dayton and the National Park Service have to consider as they move the project forward. The time is now.”
The National Park Service remains interested in acquiring the buildings, said Kendell Thompson, superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, but the acquisition process cannot move forward until deed restriction issues are resolved.
“It is certainly an unfortunate development, but it’s not a significant collapse,” he said.
Down it comes
A fire at the vacant Wright Co. factory site on March 26, 2023 damaged the masonry walls of the hangar buildings and trusses, timber beams and wood planks on the roof. Parts of the roof collapsed.
The Wright Co. site, located near the intersection of West Third Street and Abbey Avenue in West Dayton, consists of two historic airplane factory buildings and several replica buildings that were constructed years later. Building 1, which is about 11,000 square feet in size, was constructed by the Wright Co. in 1910, and the adjacent, second hangar building was constructed the following year.
The property later on was turned into a 54-acre complex for automotive and other heavy industrial uses. Industrial operations at the site ceased in 2008 and most of the buildings were demolished six years later, leaving only buildings 1 through 5 and building 17 still standing.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Wittmer said she drove by the Wright factory site on Monday and noticed that the arched parapet wall of building 1 had caved in. The wall is on the western side of the building above the entrance.
Video footage from security cameras at a nearby nearby construction site suggest the collapse likely happened in July, Wittmer said.
She said the condition of the hangar buildings is one of the factors the National Park Service will evaluate when deciding whether to acquire the properties. She said acquisition may become less likely if the buildings significantly deteriorate and sizable sections crumble and fall down.
“I’m concerned that the project will not proceed at a fast enough pace, and we will just get to the point where it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “But I don’t think we’re there yet.”
The city of Dayton owns the Wright factory site and wants to see it redeveloped. The National Park Service released a general management plan amendment in 2022 that identified the Wright factory buildings as a potential site for a new museum, learning center, administrative offices and maintenance spaces.
A new library has been built on the property south of the hangars, and a new police station is being constructed west of the buildings. The vision for the site is a walkable, mixed-use campus.
Millions of dollars in funding have been secured or committed to revitalize the Wright factory site.
Thompson, superintendent of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, said the National Park Service is waiting for the city to complete and share the results of an assessment of the factory buildings to determine their condition and what parts can and cannot be saved.
The due diligence and environmental site assessment work that the Park Service completed several years ago has to be redone because of the fire, Thompson said.
“We can’t get in there and do those assessments until the site has been stabilized and cleaned up to some degree,” he said.
Right after the 2023 fire, engineering and architectural firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc (WJE) did an initial assessment of the Wright factory buildings and recommended the city take steps to temporarily brace and shore parts of the historic structures that were susceptible to further damage. Wittmer said she does not think any bracing work was completed.
The Park Service’s potential acquisition of the Wright factory buildings is waiting on a resolution to property deed restrictions involving the Ohio EPA, Thompson said.
If the acquisition process eventually takes place, it would likely take 18 months to two years to complete, Thompson said.
Thompson said it’s important not to lose sight of why people care about these buildings and want them to be saved and restored. The hangars were home to the first purpose-built airplane manufacturing facility in the world.
“It launched the aviation industry,” he said. “That’s where it all started.”
This newspaper reached out to the city of Dayton for comment and will update this story when the city responds.
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