As the Marketing and Community Partnerships Manager at the Dayton Arcade, Megan Dunn Peters has had a front row seat to the revitalization of Dayton’s historic downtown crown jewel.
Opened in 1904, the Dayton Arcade was once a bustling downtown marketplace known for its iconic glass-domed rotunda. After decades of decline and closure, it has been fully restored and reimagined as a modern, mixed-use hub for entrepreneurship, dining, arts, and residential living.
From leading marketing initiatives to nurturing essential community and small business partnerships, Megan plays an integral role in the Arcade’s growth and vibrancy.
Listen now to learn more about The Dayton Arcade’s storied past and exciting future — and be sure to plan your visit!
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Episode Transcript:
Evelyn Ritzi
Welcome to Creating the Future. I’m Evelyn Ritzi
David Bowman
and I’m David Bowman.
Evelyn
And today we’re joined by a driving force behind the energy, enthusiasm, and community impact of the Dayton Arcade’s revival. It’s Megan Dunn Peters! Welcome to the show, Megan.
Megan Dunn Peters
Hi guys. Thanks for having me.
Evelyn
Thanks for being here. We’d love to, you know, just start to learn a little bit about your story, your background, and what led you to your role at the Dayton Arcade.
Megan
So, I have a very specific day, Tony, and I was born at Wright-Patt Air Force Base. I grew up in Beavercreek, and I went to the University of Dayton, and so I always say I’m just a kid from Dayton, but my degree, my background is actually in education, so got that from UD, go Flyers, and so I taught sixth grade for five years before transitioning to my role at the arcade, and so Dave Williams, I was living in one of his rental properties in St. Anne’s Hill, and I said, I’m looking to switch careers, and I said, I am a millennial with some skills, and he said, well, I’m looking for a millennial, and so that’s how he took a chance on me, and I knew nothing. I remember, you know, Googling the most basic construction things that got what is a soffit like things on my first day that I had no idea what they were, and so I did a little bit of everything. So I started at the arcade in 2019 so I’ve been through construction, redevelopment operations, and then every about 45 days, I say we shift a little bit, so it’s a, you know, had to learn a lot, a lot of transferable skills.
David
Well, and there have been a lot of shifts there. So, for those who don’t know, can you walk us through the story of the Arcade, why it’s important to downtown, and why the rebirth has been so transformational.
Megan
The Arcade is the most emotional building in the city. Even today, I was sitting at lunch, and someone walks in, and the first thing they do, their mouth drops open, they see the rotunda, they pull out their phone, they take a picture, they talk about it to their friends, and so that really skipped the generation, skip the millennial generation, as I’m talking about being a millennial, and because people remember it from the late 80s, and then it was nonexistent up until probably we started the redevelopment. There are some, there are some things in the early 90s, but it’s a nine building full block complex, is kind of the metaphor for the city of Dayton, so the kind of decline, the yearning for it to come back, and then its rebirth and energy that it brings back to the downtown core, and so it was really a bet on Dayton, because my leadership, Baltimore-based Cross Street partners, I mean, it’s $160 million development. I mean, that’s not something you can stack easily, and so it was really a bet, and having that like larger vision, and finding institutional partners like the University of Dayton, like the Entrepreneur Center, that will really also take a chance. So it’s a testament to the vision and collaboration, for sure.
Evelyn
Could you talk about some of those spaces that have been brought to life through those collaborations?
Megan
Yeah, the Hub, powered by PNC Bank, is our largest tenant. They’re 100,000 square feet of office space, meeting room space, classroom space, creative space, and their students there, their businesses there, and really to create those intentional collisions between all of that, so it’s fun to see kind of the current state of business and then the future state of business with students, yeah, a lot of art space, the Contemporary Dayton is a beautiful non-collecting art gallery space, so it’s really kind of that intersection of arts, innovation, and small business.
Evelyn
You’ve led a lot, lot, lot of arcade tours during the redevelopment process. I was on one of them back in the day. What’s a favorite fact, or maybe an interesting story that you like to tell when you’re giving a tour of the Arcade?
Megan
Yeah, I mean, I was covered in dust for like a couple years, because it was so dusty. I mean, we, we were meaning that the team, our partners at Model Construction, our general contractors, I mean, they tore everything out, so we had to tear it all out and put it all back in. My steel toed boots are our sight to be seen now, but my favorite story to tell, because at that time I was leading like three to four tours a day, so I was like walking this construction site back in, you know, 2019 2020 a ton, and I would, you know, always tell the same jokes, and my husband always be like, “Can’t encourage her, she tells the same bad jokes over and over again, but my favorite story is that the Third Street building was actually for sale on eBay, and the Ebay listing is wild to see that, and it was bought for the exterior brick, and so the developer who bought it showed up, and he was, you know, European, and he said, I can’t tear this down. It’s too similar to what we have in Europe,” and you know, other things kind of happen after that. But that’s my favorite story to tell, because it’s like believable, yet so unbelievable at like the exact same time.
David
Oh my gosh. Well, for someone who hasn’t visited before, or maybe just somebody that’s, you know, in the region, just hasn’t been downtown for a while, How would you describe what the Arcade has become?
Megan
That’s a really good question. We’re always trying to distill like what we are into, how to market that properly, right? So we’re retail, office, housing, but with an arts and innovation twist, and so it’s a great place to explore, because it’s so multifaceted, you could go grab a coffee, you could grab lunch, you could see some art, you could come to a pop-up event, you could learn how to start a business, you could cook out in the 6888 Kitchen, you could rent an apartment, you could say those, also there’s so much going on that we have our website is a really good resource if people are interested about it, ArcadeDayton.com. And it’s really important to us to honor the history of the arcade. It was, it was created as a public market in the early, you know, 20th century, and it’s still that haven for small business today, but really empowering kind of that next generation of business owners and the next generation of people that are driving the city forward. So, honoring that history is really important. You’ll see in the architecture, you’ll see in some of our programming. Yeah, it’s a, it’s very, very multifaceted. So, I think retail, office, housing, and more is what I would say.
Evelyn
I do want to talk about the architecture a tiny bit, and like the redevelopment process, because I know, like, the most brilliant part is the rotunda. You walk in there. Can you talk a little bit about that process, because there’s no, there’s a little history, especially with the repainting of the Cornucopia and Turkey situation.
Megan
And John Lance Adel is one of my favorite local artists. He did a pop-up art gallery in the North Arcade for a couple weeks recently, so that’s been really fun. So when we build our capital stack, it has state and federal historic tax credits, so there’s preservation standards that architects had to adhere to. So the colors that you see in their rotunda are all as close to the original colors as they would have been. All the plaster ornamentation is original. We were only missing one cornucopia bass, or the acorn baskets were only missing one of them, which is crazy, because it was in, you know, complete disrepair for so long. But, you know, using as much of the history behind the structure, keeping it the same, but then kind of giving that 2020 twist, and so adding back in the marketplace floor, which that’s a lot of square foot of tile, it’s like 16,000 square feet of tile, and they’re all like one inch pieces, so it’s a our property management team, it’s got it cut out for them to maintain that, but just, you know, honoring that, did I answer your question about the history? I mean, there’s a lot. You walk in there and your eyes just go straight up to the dome. It is probably one of the most recognizable spaces, but when people talk about the arcade, they’re talking about the rotunda. But we have nine different buildings, so that’s something that we’ve had to like work with our marketing, because it’s the most flashy piece, for sure.
David
Talk about that a little bit too, because I’ve had people ask me before, and I kind of try my best to answer, but if someone’s like, “Oh, I want to go check out the Arcade, what can you check out, and when can you check it out? Right, there’s obviously the restaurants that, when they’re open, you’re welcome to go dine there, but beyond that, like, how are you able to go explore the arcade?
Megan
Yeah, and that’s a really good question, and like I said earlier, like everything kind of shifts every 45 days. So we just recently brought on North Arcade, our North Arcade retail, and with that was the first public retail hours, consistent retail hours since the 1980s and so that was a really exciting moment for us, but also like what’s going. Have been here, but it’s been, it’s been wonderful so far. So we have retail hours Wednesday to Saturday, so Wednesdays right now it’s 10 to 6, Wednesday to Friday, and then on Saturdays 9 to 3. And then on our website we have a calendar of public events and private events, so you can check and see if their attendance closed or open, but all of our restaurants, it was important for us to have sidewalk access to not only activate the sidewalk, but to provide a secondary entrance that was actually their primary entrance from the sidewalk, that you can kind of go in whenever you would like to during their hours of operation.
Evelyn
Well, you brought up the North Arcade briefly, but let’s talk about that, because that’s the most exciting newest development, and maybe talk about that in some of the new and incoming business tenants that folks can expect when they walk in.
Megan
Yeah, definitely. I mean, something I never thought I would love so much is working with small businesses, and you know, getting the chance, because most of our businesses in the North Arcade, that’s at their second location or third location, so they’re all established businesses, they’re successful, they’re Dayton staples, like Smales, they’re Smales Pretzel Bakery, there’s Hamilton staples, like Luke’s Custom Cakes, Luke’s Grab and Go, and so we’ve got really something for everyone, Pink Moon Goods Two, and Maria’s at the Market, are along with Smales and Luke’s, are our four operators. Currently, we do a rotating art pop up, and then we are going to have a salon opening soon, which is Tiffany’s on Third, so they’ll have access right from Third Street, which will be exciting, and then we’ll have Invoke, and which is like vegan vegetarian food coming in, their food is amazing, and they are the absolute nicest human beings. Yes, if you’ve never met them, they should also be on this podcast. They are wonderful. And then Willow Rust, and they do custom home goods, so we’re working on finding a really good mix of things that are static, things that change, things that drive people to come and be repeat visitors.
Evelyn
Yeah, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to walk on over to the Third Street entrance and see folks that are staying at the hotel and checking out all the retail. It’s been really cool to see some life in that side and that street, and yeah, very accessible.
Megan
Yeah, and I’m glad you brought that up, because I, we also opening Road Runner Espresso Bar, so that’s Road Runner Mobile Espresso. Yes, you have to get your coffee, so we have two coffee anchors, one on each side. We have Lucho on Fourth Street, and we have, we’ll have Road Runner on Third, so there’s plenty of places for you to get caffeinated, which is really important in this town. So, I think finding really cool local retail was a was a priority for us, and I think we, I think we achieved it. Everyone we have in the space is just, they’ve got their store together, but they’re also really, really wonderful human beings.
David
So, you’ve led programming like Holly Days, yoga in the rotunda, and other really creative community events that activate the Arcade for the public in really interesting and creative ways. How have you seen those experiences shape how people are connecting with the Arcade beyond just the building itself?
Megan
Holly Days was our first, like, foray into public events back in 2021 which is this is year six, which is hard to believe, because I’m, I’m very young, so I’ve had a kid and got married during all that time, so it’s, you know, so having, you know, Holly Days provides that multi-generational experience. We see, you know, grannies come in the wheelchairs with the grandkids, and they’re, you know, they’re shopping like they used to, and they’re making those new memories. I think that was kind of the bridge between focusing on the past and deciding to, you know, lean heavily on the future of the space, and so kind of getting that experience to be that multi-generational experience. And then, you know, providing people that may have been here in the 80s here come and have some new experiences here at the Arcade. Yoga is super popular, a lot of fitness things that we do. We started the first Friday series, and so people are getting out and experiencing the arcade in new ways, which is we want to create those like really positive memories of being downtown.
Evelyn
I think Holly Days in particular, and I just have to give you kudos, because you put so much hard work into making that happen. I mean, it’s how many vendors like –
Megan
Over 50, over 50
Evelyn
Local vendors bringing in stuff. It just really makes the holidays a little brighter around here, but I think it’s interesting too, like when I did my first tour of the construction site, like, there was old Holly Days decorations still up, like – the last time it was activated, so to bring it full circle is so cool,
Megan
Yeah. And I was, I was at Holly Days in 1993 as a kid, and so you know, my mom said, “Oh, I pushed you in the stroller down the hallway, and so thinking. You know, creating again another moment in time, people have such strong holiday memories of Dayton, and so it’s truly an honor to bring that back, and then finding new and creative partners to work with, having a charity every year to give back to, partnering with Second 2nd Market, and doing a shuttle with the RTA, just, you know, involving everyone downtown, and I think that helps lift all of it, especially during the holiday season.
David
Something cool about the notion of a full circle moment happening underneath a giant circular window, right? And a giant circular, yeah.
Megan
And you know, we did, we worked at the Downton Dayton Partnership during Art in the City, and we call Art Full Circle, yeah. And so they’re creating underneath the dome, and there’s some really cool moments, a lot of really good plays on words that we can do with our marketing. Yeah, for sure.
Evelyn
Well, any other fun facts or interesting tidbits about the arcade you want to share?
Megan
Yeah, I mean, it’s just such an incredible space, and there’s always something to do there. We’ve got incredible restaurants that we have on the first floor, the 6888 kitchen, you know, having the shared use commercial kitchen named after the all-female Black battalion sent over overseas during World War II, that talk about metaphor, right? And so those women solved the problem of the army’s mail in very short order, there’s all the backlog, so having, you know, a lot of these spaces where people can create and create opportunity, and that’s what I love about, you know, holidays and having this space to give other people a platform to thrive, I feel like Dayton does that really well across everywhere, is there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of space to create and take risks, which I think the Arcade was a huge risk, and people were very skeptical about the arcade for good reason, I mean, there’s a lot of fits and starts, but and we’re still, we’re still convincing the skeptics that it’s, it’s viable, and I think that we’ve got the right mix of operations and business and art that would, and events, we have an amazing events program at the arcade, and so that mix is really going to carry over and continue that success for that next generation that we were trying to create those experiences for.
David
Yeah
Evelyn
Absolutely. I’ve been to several events, from fundraisers to weddings, there, and it’s a perfect setting for that too. So, yeah,
Megan
So it’s a gorgeous venue, and it’s not just beautiful architecture, there’s a lot of, you know cross collaborations that people could do with other local businesses and things like that, so
David
Yeah, and it’s such a unique space at a time when I think cities need things like that, right? So I think it’s really wonderful that we’ve got a hotel there in such a unique space, so if your only impression of Dayton is the Arcade, well, what a great impression, right? It’s not sort of your standard cookie cutter hotel that’s off of the highway, that’s sort of the, you know, looks like everywhere else, and you really wouldn’t know what city you’re in or why you’re there. So I think it really does create a unique and creative identity. What kind of feedback have you heard from guests at that at the hotel?
Megan
We just had a meeting about that this today, so I’m glad that you brought that up. All positive stuff. Guests love staying there. I mean, March was their busiest month to date. They’ve been open since May of last year, and so people love that fact that they can just walk downstairs and everything’s under one roof, they can shop and they can dine and they can explore, and there’s always something going on from like a programming standpoint that they can explore, but it, I mean, we built 93 hotel rooms in an existing five story building, and then they had to build four more stories on top of another building to fit the number of hotel rooms that we needed to have. Someone said, well, what, what is the, what was the hardest thing about the building the Arcade? And I said, well, I think the, the better question is saying, what was the easiest thing about it, because everything was a challenge, and but it was how we approach that, you know, being creative. Oh, we can build four floors here, and we can fit Hilton’s brand standards, great, and there’s a little bit of history in every room. The photos in each room, as the artwork, is all historic images and some local shots of construction and things like that, so it’s it really gives a lot of date and flavor. You can stay in the top of the pinnacle of the Arcades facade, which is really fun. There’s a suite up there that’s an insider tip that you can stay up there, so that I think that one is booked quite frequently, but great views of the city. Me, like, you guys have great views from your office. There’s great views from the Hilton Garden at the Arcade.
Evelyn
Totally, I’ve even had some friends do, like, a little staycation. They’re like, ‘Well, I just want to, you know, have a kid at a sitter and we can have a date night and go see a show and stay downtown, and it’s like, ‘Yeah, why not? And go to the Dessert Room and, like, get an experience,
Megan
And like, I know Evelyn, you’re big on like loving where you live. I think that’s Evelyn’s tagline, or something similar to that. And so you know, having that date night, that staycation here, daycation, if you will, but we give it to, you know, we done date and live giveaways, we give partner with Dayton Live giveaway tickets and a stay at the hotel and a gift card to one hour restaurant, so people are kind of getting that whole package and experiencing kind of that collective what the arcade has to offer. So I want to stay there. I haven’t stayed there yet. I need to live seven minutes away from the Arcade, so I probably need to get myself a hotel room down there sometimes. A suite, yeah, the suite. Well, and some of the rooms look over the North Arcade Concourse, where our retail is. So, you could literally open up your blinds and, like, see a beautiful cupcake from Luke’s right there.
Evelyn
That’s calling your name.
Megan
Yes, it really would. It really would. So, I encourage people to come stay, even if they’re local,
David
Yeah
Megan
To come have that experience here,
Evelyn
Definitely. Well, again, that brings us to the end of our interview, which leads us to our last question, which is, What’s the future that you want to create?
Megan
I’ve been thinking, I’m thinking a lot about this question, and I feel like Dayton is a place here where you feel like you can really make a difference at an individual level. I felt that being at the Arcade, you know, being new and learning all kinds of things from the people I’ve been working with and the partners we’ve worked with, and you really can take risks here in Dayton, like you can be bold and try things out, and if they don’t work, you just reassess and move forward, and Dayton is forgiving of that, and they’re willing to work and grow with you. I think that’s really important. So, I think the future is just empowering others to also be able to take those risks, because we are ready for the next generation to also come in. Right, we just hired a Gen Z, and how do I give her the same opportunities to take those risks and really make Dayton what you know, I think everyone truly does want it to be, yeah. So, yeah, bold, and I, you know, Dayton just feels like an embrace to me, like I feel like you like walk in the city and everyone knows like you belong there, right? And so I hope that future is something that we can continue.
David
I love that.
Evelyn
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Meghen, for joining us.
Megan
Thanks. I had a great time. Thanks for the conversation.
Evelyn
Everyone, go visit the Dayton Arcade.
Megan
Yes, DaytonArcade.com and then Arcade Dayton on social, and interact with us there. We’d love to, we’d love to chat with you.
Evelyn
Thank you. Thank you.
Megan
Yes, thanks, guys.
