I know exactly where you mean. My group stays at the U of Dayton dorms most years, and we drive right past there. It's also just about 10 blocks or so due south of the main hotels in downtown Dayton, though the neighborhood(s) in between aren't exactly the best.
What "main hotels" in downtown Dayton? There is only one. The Crowne Plaza. There are a few others, but they are not considered "main hotels." Even the Marriott moved out of downtown Dayton.
Maybe not, but most areas of Trotwood, and the offsite parking at Salem Mall wasn't the best neighborhood either.
I do not know if the indoor facility would be big enough. And I'm not sure how viable those tents would be for the major vendors; I know that one major vendor that was placed in "Building" 6000 spaces was quite vocally unhappy about it.
Now as I recall, there is also a field/stadium complex adjacent to the U of Dayton stadium that belongs to the public schools. If both facilities could be used, this might work. If not, I would not only wonder if the U of Dayton facility would be enough, but what would happen if the public schools decide to use their facilities at the same time?
I'm not saying that it would be large enough. Remember the indoor facilities at the fairgrounds aren't large enough either, so dara used tents. Why couldn't tents be used at UD? There are various quality of tents. I recall what dara used to use in the early 90s in the flea market area. That wasn't so good.
I thought that the track and field (on the left, closer to I-75) was part of UD, and I thought it was their practice field. I could be wrong.
I also seem to recall in the past that this was looked into, and at the time, the facility was deemed insufficient -- lack of indoor exhibit space. Maybe that has changed; I don't know off hand.
Also, considering that I-75 in Dayton has been under reconstruction for the last few years (this year, the ramps to US 35 East were not available... as in, not there & in the process of being replaced), I would think in the short term, the access might not be all that easy. Once construction is completed, that would be a different story, of course.
That may be the case. I might have been thinking of the Convention Center downtown, which would not work.
The first question would be, would the University be amenable to it? If they are, the second question would be is it cost effective?
I have no idea. All I was doing was suggesting a potentially viable alternative.
It appears that the parking lot is HUGE. Likely because it's for parking for the indoor arena and the stadium.
I have no idea. I'm not sure if UD is a private or public university. It seemed that the city/county wanted to make sure that dara kept the hamfest in the area, so they seemed they were willing to "bend over backwards" to do it. Putting pressure on UD might be part of that.
Again, I have no idea. Just presenting a
potentially viable alternative. Maybe dara did look at it and deemed it insufficient. My thought is/was that if it is possible, then the next step would be if UD was amenable to it, but came back with a counter of, "sure, but you cannot interfere with commencement," would dara consider moving the dates back to April, or the first weekend in June ?