Cincinnati-based urban growth firm YARD & Company is breathing new live into a historic Dayton, Kentucky landmark this winter, offering a space for the community and beyond to “work, gather and create.”
Co-founders of YARD & Company, Kevin Wright and Joe Nickol, purchased The Garage (many years ago it was Bud’s Service Station, and historically functioned as a gas station, according to Wright) and plan to launch the space in the new year.
The property features a petite office/warehouse-like space, that was most recently used by local clothing brand Native One, and a small building with a drive-through — which is currently being used as a coffee-pop up this week (through Friday, Dec. 4) by Dayton’s Unataza Coffee. The pop-up functions as a sort of preview of what The Garage will offer.
The concept behind The Garage, as stated above, is to create a rentable space for people to utilize for work, events (in their indoor and outdoor space) and supporting local entrepreneurs.
“We think, whether it’s work, events, or pop-up retail, food, that the space is kind of perfectly situated during COVID, with spatial distancing restrictions, and also post-COVID. We think the world is kind of moving toward an environment where indoor-outdoor spaces are going to be essential,” says Wright.
“And the versatility of the building being both the walk-up window and the drive-up window is really interesting to us.”
For Wright and Nickol, who both live in neighboring Bellevue, focusing on the community around The Garage is important. In our interview, Wright spoke about “blending community with commerce,” and offering spaces for locals to work outside of their home, have team meetings, or “just focus on something quietly,” in addition to providing a space for local programming.
“Our success will be dependent on the folks in Dayton supporting us, and so we want to fit into their personality and their story. That’s one of the reasons we’re excited about partnering with Unataza,” Wright says.
The two are currently using a portion of the space as their own offices; they were utilizing co-working spaces downtown prior to COVID, and wanted to temporarily find a safe space to continue working.
Wright says they chose Dayton because, like many other Cincinnati-adjacent neighborhoods, it’s on the rise.
“Bellevue has really changed a lot and grown a lot in the last decade or so, and Dayton is following suit. And, just in the last year, year and a half, as you know, you have pretty good food and drink spaces that have opened like Galactic Fried Chicken and Unataza Coffee, Purple Poulet (which opened in 2016), etc.,” Wright says.
“I think it’s a pretty underserved market when it comes to what we’re offering.”
Wright, who formerly ran the Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation for seven years, and Nickol, who has worked internationally as an urban design, architecture and planning consultant, work locally and nationally through YARD & Company, which they launched in 2018.
Recently, they worked with local restaurants and bars The Fairfield Cafe & Bar and The B-List to create outdoor dining and drinking “park-lets” to offer safe spaces during COVID and fit into local restrictions.
For more info about what kind of projects YARD & Company are working on, visit buildwithyard.com. They will be launching the website for The Garage in the new year, which will provide more info and reservation capabilities.
Stop by the space this week and grab a coffee or pastry to-go from Unataza Coffee’s pop-up. Open 7-10 a.m. through Friday, Dec. 4.
The Garage, 825 Sixth Ave., Dayton, Kentucky.
This article appears in The Holiday Issue.