What kind of impact would racino have?

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - At Lexington Place you can gallop across a street named Churchill Downs and trot around another called Pimlico, both sharing their names with famous racetracks.

But the horse racing-themed development has taken on a whole new meaning with plans to build a racino just a few furlongs away.

"We need that here in Dayton," says Lexington Place's Sales and Marketing Manager Cindy Pozsgai. "We need jobs. Anything that brings jobs into the community."

The place where that racino would go, the old Delphi Plant off Wagner Ford Road is right now losing its race with the weeds.

"It was rundown and people recognize that site as an old, wasted industrial site, so having something new and vibrant there will be a nice benefit for the community," says Dayton's Deputy Director of Economic Development Timothy Downs.

2 NEWS got a look at the early designs for the racino.

The project is expected to create about 300 jobs initially at the site, but outside of that city leaders say it remains to be seen what kind of impact the racino will have.

"We hope it's great and attracts more development," Downs says. "That's really what we're hoping for is more development as a result of it."

More development is exactly what Lexington Place is betting on.

Four new homes are going up right now and plenty of other lots are still available.

The street names there now seem like they were designed with the racino in mind, but the race is far from over.

"We have a long way to go," Pozsgai says.

The racino is planned to open in early to mid 2014.