The Yellow Springs Development aims to purchase 252 and 254 Xenia Ave. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Yellow Springs Development Co. to purchase downtown buildings
- Published: November 17, 2025
Some iconic downtown Yellow Springs properties are set to change hands in the coming weeks.
The Yellow Springs Development Corporation is purchasing the two buildings at 252 and 254 Xenia Ave. — the former of which currently houses the Yellow Springs Toy Company, and the latter of which was most recently the site of Yellow Springs Hardware, until the business closed earlier this year.
Six tenants live on the second floor of the three-story building at 254 Xenia Ave.
The News spoke with YSDC members-at-large Lisa Abel and Mike Slaughter earlier this week, and they said that none of those tenants are getting evicted in the ownership change, but also that YSDC aims to preserve the two historic buildings for years to come, ideally continuing as mixed residential and commercial spaces.
“Local control is really what we want,” Abel said, adding that YSDC wanted to get ahead of out-of-town buyers who she said could have altered the downtown Yellow Springs landscape for the worse.
“We don’t want to see downtown get filled up with name-brand shops, but we also don’t want to see vacant storefronts,” she said.
Abel and Slaughter said that members of YSDC — a quasi-governmental nonprofit group of village leaders and elected officials — signed a sale agreement earlier this week, and the group is expected to close on the properties in early January.
The two buildings were previously owned by lifelong villager and local property magnate Bob Baldwin until his death in 2024; since then, Baldwin’s relatives have been handling his estate and liquidating some of his commercial and residential property assets in Yellow Springs and elsewhere.
Though neither Abel nor Slaughter specified the exact price for purchase of 252 and 254 Xenia Ave., Abel said that the appraised value of the properties is about $630,000. Beyond the closing on the sale — which is being brokered by local realtor Shelly Blackman — YSDC will likely spend additional money on forthcoming structural engineering evaluations, environmental and historical assessments and more.
Abel also noted that, despite YSDC being an economic development branch with connections to Village government, no public funds are going toward the acquisition of the property — “None,” Slaughter said.
Abel said that the Yellow Springs Community Foundation is providing YSDC with a two-year bridge loan to cover the immediate costs of a purchase and forthcoming surveys — a lenient timeline, Abel said, that allows the nonprofit some flexibility in determining eventual financing and fundraising options.
In addition to those needed surveys involved in YSDC’s “due diligence phase” instigated upon acquiring the two buildings, the group aims to appoint a project manager and eventually a property manager — the latter of whom will manage the rents of the buildings’ tenants, as well as provide general upkeep in the residential and commercial properties between the two buildings.
Abel and Slaughter also dispelled a local rumor they’ve heard circulating, stating that the Village of Yellow Springs is not being considered as a potential property manager or eventual landlord for either property.
So, what kind of business will succeed Yellow Springs Hardware in the downstairs commercial space at 254 Xenia Ave.?
Abel and Slaughter agreed that is still up in the air — and likely contingent on community feedback, they said.
They and other YSDC members intend to convene a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6–7 p.m., in the Bryan Center’s rooms A and B on the second floor.
The goal of the town hall, the pair said, is primarily for YSDC to share all available information and plans with the public, as well as for community members to weigh in with their visions for usage of the spaces.
“All our meetings are open to the public, and folks are welcome to come and ask questions,” Abel said. “For this town hall, we are inviting everyone in the village — anyone who might have concerns or questions. We don’t have all the answers right now, and really, all we can say — and likely will be able to say — is that we purchased this property and we aim to preserve it.”
According to county records, the three-story structure that previously housed the hardware store was built around 1853, and is one of the oldest buildings in Yellow Springs; the adjoining building with YS Toy Company was added sometime in the following decades.
Past News reporting on the corner building notes that it once held a college bookstore, an art studio, the area’s first library and, at one point, a hotel — one that may have had some connection with the abolitionist and liberation movements in the 19th century.
“This is a special place right in the center of town,” Slaughter said. “I have fond memories of coming here as a kid when this was Deaton’s Hardware. So, we’re hoping to preserve this really special building.”
According to Abel, preserving “special buildings” for future commercial and residential use falls right in line with YSDC’s mission, which she said, is to promote economic development in all areas of Yellow Springs.
This is the second instance of the nonprofit following through on that mission since the group’s formation in 2020. YSDC brokered the sale of the former Miami Township fire station on Corry Street in 2021.
After a blind selection process wherein a subcommittee of YSDC members evaluated proposals and intentions based on set criteria and values, YSDC facilitated the sale of the fire station to local resident and comedian Dave Chappelle — in the years since, Chappelle turned the station into a comedy club.
Yellow Springs Development’s next regular meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 4:30 p.m., in the Miami Township meeting room at 101 E. Herman Street. Before that is a town hall meeting regarding 252 and 254 Xenia Ave. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6–7 p.m., in rooms A and B of John Bryan Community Center.
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