It's a cycle that has repeated itself in many urban areas across the country: the downtown core starts suffering, real estate prices go down, creative professionals take advantage of deals on great old spaces and fix them up, and the newly vibrant neighborhoods and valuable properties in turn attract businesses and residents back to downtown.

Four creative businesses in Dayton have taken the first steps to start revitalizing Dayton, beginning from the ground up by adapting existing downtown spaces to fit their needs. And while they've all taken different approaches, they seem to agree on one thing: in this market, it's foolish not to invest in downtown Dayton.

The Firefly Building & Real Art Design Group

Ken Botts of Visual Marketing Associates teamed up with Rogero Buckman Architects, and the product was the Firefly Building – a combination of office and residential spaces on Webster Street. Before they got their hands on it, it had been vacant for about ten years. They found remnants suggesting it had been used for raves, along with outdated shag carpet and bland drop ceilings.

They gutted the building, but there were some elements they wanted to keep: exposed brick and wooden beams, lots of windows, and existing open space that they would eventually transform into an atrium.

VMA and Rogero Buckman now occupy neighboring spaces on the fourth floor of the building, but to the untrained eye, it looks like one large, open office. And that's intentional: dividers on wheels, instead of typical walls or cubicles, allow them to adapt the space and create temporary rooms or meeting spaces as needed. The exposed brick and high ceilings lend an industrial touch, while modern furniture and décor give the space a comfortable home-office feeling.

Next door to the Firefly Building is Real Art Design Group, another collaborative effort between Rogero Buckman and a business with a creative vision.

It has some features in common with the Firefly: an abundance of open, public space with clean, geometric lines and a contrasting color palette. Real Art moved there in 2009 from a location in the Oregon District, where they'd been since their inception in 1985.

But instead of updating the existing structure – which was blanketed in moss and black mold – they decided to start fresh, keeping just “the bones” to tie the new creation to its history. Steel beams laid on their sides atop an existing brick wall become a touch of garden scenery in the employee parking lot.

For the interior, Chris Wire said he took his inspiration from the movie “2001: Space Odyssey” to create an ultra-contemporary environment where texture, color and geometry play off each other. In the lobby, two symmetrical couches comprised of red circular cushions sit atop a particularly shaggy rug while flatscreen TVs on the wall display dynamic images and video clips.

“We tried to keep the space gallery-like,” Chris explains, pointing out the tongue-in-cheek gallery tags on the walls beside mounted examples of Real Art's work.

Real Art has plenty of space for its various creative projects, but it also has room for something that most businesses don't have: a furnished condo for visiting clients or colleagues from their Chicago office. The condo is equally playful and professional and exists to give visitors an alternative to the typical continental-breakfast experience of a hotel.

Forge & Hafenbrack

On the other side of town from Real Art and the Firefly, two businesses use existing forms and make them functional for their operations.

Forge had been on the first floor of a building in the Oregon District when the landlord of that building decided to vacate his apartment on the third floor, giving Forge the opportunity to move up.

“We like the feel of the historic building,” Jeremy Loyd explained. “The old, raw material of the building fits with the concept of Forge.”

And while they looked briefly at other locations, they were in no hurry to leave the Oregon District. “It's got a creative vibe and interesting architecture, with all these nooks and crannies,” Jeremy said.

Forge's space bears the marks of the different purposes it has served. As a residential space, it includes a full kitchen and a rooftop terrace with a hot tub and a small garden. A luxurious pool table gives Forge's employees an area for unwinding or gaining a new perspective on problems, and nautical decorations add a touch of whimsy.

Of course, it's not all fun and games, but a look at Forge's working area highlights the next issue they're confronting: it's hard to do business with 11 employees in a living room. Granted, it's a spacious living room, but Jeremy acknowledged it's getting cramped and it won't be long before they'll have to consider a new space.

But that's one of this city's advantages: you don't have to look far to find an existing space, and a little innovation and elbow grease can turn it into the office of your dreams.

That's what Hafenbrack Marketing Company found when they settled on their office in the Kuhns building on Fourth Street.

They rent the suite from Bob and Nancy Schiffler, who undertook the renovation of the historic building as an investment. Bob was a former client and contacted Hafenbrack about the opening.

“A number of businesses had this space,” Jon Brooks said. “It was all cubicles and filing cabinets.”

But they fell in love with its potential. A competitive rental rate in a gorgeous building was enough to outweigh any small concerns they had about traffic and parking downtown.

The space needed a makeover, although they did keep one of the most striking features – a beautiful wood-and-glass spiral staircase that sparkles in the sunlight coming in from overhead skylights. They also kept the openness, dividing spaces with different flooring instead of walls and low dividers between desks.

Lounge-type furniture in the entry was chosen to “tie in the modern to the old world,” Jon said. Reds and grays were incorporated to reflect the colors of the Hafenbrack logo. Upstairs, only half of the space has been developed, while an entire area – just as large as the space they already have – has yet to be renovated.

Sustaining Dayton's future

In an age where almost every product or service you use is customizable, what incentive is there for businesses to take a chance on an old rundown building downtown when they could build something new?

Chris Wire has a theory. “New development is temporary. The coolness will fade and people will move on to somewhere else. Downtown has been through renaissance and depression; it won't go away.”

And if these businesses can show us anything, it's that old space can be renovated and customized to look and function exactly as needed, while still retaining the old-time character.

There's also the environmental aspect. While downtown buildings are old and likely not up to today's green standards, locating downtown means one less new office building or strip mall popping up. That's how Ken Botts sees it: “By repurposing the amenities Dayton already has, we can keep the green pastures for others to appreciate.”

Think of it as urban recycling.

The perks of being downtown

Something all of these business have in common is a creative mission. All creative endeavors originate with inspiration, and there's plenty of that to go around downtown. Buildings constructed in the earlier half of the 20^th century are high quality, even if they might need a little elbow grease and polishing to make them usable. And they have character, something appreciated by creative minds.

It's hard to be innovative in a cookie-cutter office with bland, neutral walls and carpet, little natural light and no views out the windows. But one look at the neon green wall of the Firefly Building's atrium, the elaborate stained-glass peacock window in Forge's space, the sci-fi-inspired textured walls at Real Art, or the swirling spiral staircase at Hafenbrack, will wake up the mind and energize the creative drive.

It's form-meets-function: the interior spaces are designed to create the ideal environment for the kind of work being done there, while the sights and events of downtown give people a chance to meet and exchange ideas. And if you need a breath of fresh air or a change of perspective, just head up to the rooftop terrace – an amenity the Firefly Building, Forge and Real Art have in common. At Hafenbrack, a courtyard dining area rich with colorful art and an old grand piano serves the same purpose.

And the benefit of having these businesses within a few blocks of each other downtown is that their employees find themselves bumping into each other, giving them the opportunity to share ideas and collaborate. Ken Botts is a believer in cross-disciplinary learning and teaching; his proximity to Rogero Buckman Architects prompted him to start on the Litehouse Project, building affordable green homes in Dayton.

These success stories can do nothing but encourage other businesses to move into Dayton's core. With spaces abundant and affordable, a good central location in the southwestern Ohio region, and a chance to show a little personality, it's not hard to see the appeal of downtown. And Dayton can only benefit from more creative minds in its midst.

Want to see more photos of these creative spaces? Check out the full Flickr photostream here.

Story and Images by: Marisa Becker