The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority Board of Trustees voted late Tuesday to award a $2.2 million contract to demolish the Admiral Benbow hotel building.

The RTA is set to sign the contract Wednesday with Chicago-based Brandenburg Industrial Service Co. Demolition is to begin in November and to be complete by July of next year.

The demolition, funded by the city of Dayton, the Federal Transit Administration and the Ohio Department of Transportation, is the first phase of the Market Street Plaza project. The project is designed to transform the block between Third and Fourth streets and Main and Jefferson streets into a remodeled, off-street bus stop.

The goals of Market Street are to eliminate high concentrations of people at Third and Main streets, create a gateway for downtown, and help retail businesses along Main Street by moving the buses that currently wait there.
Mark Donaghy, executive director of the RTA, has said the Market Street project should be complete two years after the demolition of the hotel commences.