In Loving Memory of Mayor Tom Henry

Northside neighborhood residents recently teamed up with AARP, the Team Better Block organization, the Purdue Extension Office and City of Fort Wayne staff to temporarily transform Columbia Avenue just east of downtown. Led by Northside resident Mo Palmer, the group worked to create a safer and more interesting environment for people traveling by foot, wheelchair or bike.

Applications for the City’s Commercial Façade Grant program are now being accepted for the 2018 construction year. The Commercial Façade Grant program was introduced ten years ago by Mayor Tom Henry and provides local businesses the opportunity to apply for matching grants to improve the exteriors of their buildings.

Applications are available at www.fwcommunitydevelopment.org/facade and are being accepted in the Community Development Offices, Suite 320, Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St. Questions may be directed to Grants Specialist Lindsey Maksim by calling 311 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Applications for the grants will be accepted from now through December 16, 2017.

The Community Development Division recently completed work to improve a key “gateway” or well-traveled roadway into the City from the south. The Bicentennial Marker, installed in 1994 near the intersection of Airport Expressway and Bluffton Road, was recently refurbished with new lighting and tiles. Then, last month, dead and diseased pine trees were removed, as well as overgrown vegetation in the right-of-way. Finally, 51 trees and 37 new shrubs were planted and the area was re-seeded and received fresh mulch.

A purchase agreement is in place for the City of Fort Wayne to buy the North River property from Calhoun Investments, LLC.

The North River property is comprised of 29 acres bounded by Clinton, Fourth and Harrison streets and serves as an important gateway into downtown. The site was previously used as a rail yard and scrap yard, dating back to 1902. The land has not been actively used since 2006.

The City of Fort Wayne is looking for feedback regarding a draft report examining access to affordable and safe housing in the community.

As part of the City’s fair housing assessment (also called the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice), the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services is inviting residents to attend a public presentation about the draft report.

Mayor Tom Henry joined Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, representatives from Provenance Hotels, elected officials and community leaders today to announce a proposal to bring a 125-room boutique hotel to downtown Fort Wayne.

The $27.7 million one-of-a-kind specialty hotel would be located on City of Fort Wayne property at the northwest corner of Harrison and Main streets. The project was selected by a team of City of Fort Wayne and community leaders after issuing a request for proposals. Plans call for five floors, restaurants, ground-level retail spaces and a rooftop entertainment space.

City officials joined Laycoff’s Tavern owner Jim Sullivan today to celebrate the completion of his restaurant’s exterior remodeling, supported in part by a Commercial Façade Grant.

Laycoff’s, 3530 N. Clinton St., received a 2016 Commercial Façade Grant from the City’s Community Development Division and used the matching grant to give the restaurant a brand new look. The $20,000 grant, along with Sullivan’s investment of more than $20,000, updated the restaurant exterior with a new stone façade, a resurfaced and re-striped parking lot, new paint, a new sign and lighting.

The Waynedale Business Chamber is working with the City’s Planning staff to develop a Bluffton and Lower Huntington Corridor Improvement Plan. The Chamber is interested in enhancing these business corridors in order to support its goals of business promotion and community improvements. Once the plan is finalized, it will recommend: 1) possible streetscape improvements to improve the area’s aesthetics, 2) possible improvements to make the corridors more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists and 3) possible zoning changes that would support a mix of business and residential uses.

In an effort to increase safety and healthy habits, cities across the country are looking for ways to encourage residents to do more walking and biking. That’s why on Wednesday, November 2, the Fort Wayne Board of Public Works adopted a policy that will have engineers and planners consider the needs and interests of pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists when designing or improving streets.

Thanks to new lighting provided by the Urban Enterprise Association (UEA), several key city walkways and driving lanes are now much safer for pedestrians and motorists.

The following is a guest column by Nancy Townsend, Executive Director of the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission
Several recent academic studies of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) have put this economic revitalization tool into the headlines over the last few months. Scholars and public policy analysts have attempted to demonstrate the value, or lack thereof, of TIF in stimulating economic growth. And while this sort of state-wide analysis and dialogue is important and appropriate, I want to bring this discussion to the local level with some basic information about how TIF works here in Fort Wayne.

RealAmerica Development LLC will be honored as a winner of the 2016 Developments of Distinction Awards, which will be presented Jan. 7, 2016, at the Novogradac 2016 Tax Credit Housing Developers Conference in Miami Beach, Fla. The Developments of Distinction Awards were awarded to development teams for exceptional achievement in the development of properties using the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and/or tax credit developments using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) financing.

Local residents Sarah Wright, Beth Keeton and Ryan Benton are all winners in the Riverfront Fort Wayne Selfie Scavenger Hunt. The winners were drawn at random from a list of completed entries and will each receive a $50 gift certificate to either Don Chava's, Don Hall's Gas House or Club Soda.

The City of Fort Wayne's Cities United initiative invites residents to attend the upcoming Unity in the Community basketball game featuring members of the Fort Wayne Police and Fire departments. The game is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Indiana Tech Schafer Center, 1600 E. Washington Blvd.

The City of Fort Wayne's Housing and Neighborhood Services Department wants to know how citizens think Federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) dollars should be invested in our community over the next five years. Residents are invited to express their opinions in writing or at a public meeting on Wednesday, November 4, at 6 p.m. at the Psi Ote Barn in Northside Park at the corner of East State Boulevard and Parnell Avenue.

The public is invited to hear a presentation about the potential for additional residential development opportunities in downtown Fort Wayne.

Results of the study will be presented during the HANDS (Housing and Neighborhood Development Services) Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 11:30 a.m., Citizens Square, 200 East Berry Street, Garden Level Room 030.

Results of a study by Zimmerman/Volk Associates from Clinton, New Jersey will be presented during the meeting. The study examines downtown Fort Wayne, including the riverfront study area, and its potential for residential development. Zimmerman/Volk completed similar studies for Fort Wayne in 2006 and 2010.

Mayor Tom Henry today announced the City of Fort Wayne has been awarded an additional $2.8 million to help stabilize neighborhoods by demolishing and redeveloping abandoned homes. The new funding is in addition to $4.7 million that was received earlier this year.

The dollars come from the Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program (BEP), which provides an opportunity for local units of government in all 92 Indiana counties to compete for funding to help eliminate blighted homes and decrease foreclosures.

Riverfront Fort Wayne consultants are drawing up their final proposals and offering one last opportunity for public input. A Riverfront Improvement Priorities survey is now online and will take residents just minutes to complete.

The survey can be found at www.RiverfrontFW.org; the link is on the right side of the home page. The survey asks people to prioritize the riverfront elements that are most important to them based on the latest plans presented at public meetings on October 29 and 30. For example, residents are asked to choose among elements such as a promenade, entertainment areas, urban ecology center, outdoor adventure area, historic steam locomotive attraction, recreation activities and more.

The Legacy Joint Funding Committee will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19 in Room 030 on the Garden Level of Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St.

The North Anthony Boulevard Historic District is now part of the National Register of Historic Places, the nation's official list of properties considered worthy of preservation.

The residential historic district boundaries are roughly along North Anthony Boulevard from Lake to Crescent avenues. North Anthony was a key feature in the 1911 Park and Boulevard Plan for Fort Wayne, by landscape architect George Kessler. Kessler's work was part of Fort Wayne's City Beautiful planning; his concepts completely transformed public and private development throughout the community and led to the development of many of Fort Wayne's historic twentieth century residential areas.

Fort Wayne's riverfront plan is one step closer to being finalized and envisions a unique waterfront experience. The City's riverfront consultant, SWA Group, unveiled the latest version of the proposal at a public meeting this evening. The draft plan calls for a focus on nature, recreation and development with construction of a riverfront promenade being the first phase of the plan.

The promenade would be located on both the north and south banks of the St. Marys River. It would incorporate two levels, one lower to the water and one higher that would connect to shopping, dining and residential areas along Superior Street. Rooftop terraces and pedestrian bridges would also be part of the promenade area, as would Headwaters Junction, a rail-themed attraction and home to the historic 765 steam locomotive.

By John Urbahns
Division Director, Community Development

Joel Harter, owner and CEO of Summit Brands, and his family have had a commitment to our city since its founding in Fort Wayne in 1958. Recently, Summit Brands took that commitment one step further by not only expanding locally but also by taking on the redevelopment of a brownfield site. On October 10, Summit Brands held a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating this expansion with the opening of their new 100,000 square foot distribution facility off of Conestoga Drive.