Harrison Square Presentation

North Side High School's sign now reads "Harrison Square Presentation, Thursday at 6PM"

I'm not sure of the details of the presentation, but it sounds interesting, so I will try to find out as much as possible.

Also, in addition to this presentation, you could also attend one of Mayor Graham Richard's Report to the People sessions. First Meeting:

Tuesday, February 6th- Chamber of Commerce
8 AM 826 Ewing St.


For complete schedule, visit:
http://cityoffortwayne.gov

Fort Wayne, a rust-belt Gritty City?

Article:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16576880.htm

An article discussing what others/visitors to Fort Wayne may think of the city, comparing the interior city to the exterior city, and talks about how Harrison Square may help change that, although it may not "perform the magic people are hoping for".

Mayor Makes Downtown Pitch

Article:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16576834.htm

Mayor Graham Richard spoke at the Downtown Rotary Club as a preview to his Report to the People sessions, discussing a wide range of topics, including Harrison Square.

Related Articles:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16579523.htm

Mayor re-emphasizes Support For Harrison Square

Mayor Re-emphasizes Support for Harrison Square Development


Mayor Graham Richard today was the featured speaker at the Downtown Rotary where he presented a preview of his upcoming 2007 Report to the People sessions. Mayor Richard discussed the importance of investing in downtown and re-emphasized his support for Harrison Square, a proposal to bring a signature mixed-use development to downtown. “We are committed to creating jobs and attracting new businesses,” said Mayor Richard. “A downtown catalyst development will enhance economic development opportunities and create a downtown gathering place for our community and region.” The initial phase of Harrison Square calls for $125 million of investment, with approximately 50% to be privately financed. No general property taxes would be used as part of the project. The initial phase would include a hotel, residential condominiums, retail, baseball stadium, and parking garage.
Mayor Richard announced the City and Hardball Capital, the owner of the Fort Wayne Wizards, continue to make progress on a memorandum of understanding to move the residential, retail and stadium components of the project forward. Request for proposals on the hotel portion of the project are due back from developers next month. The City expects to select a hotel developer by the end of the first quarter. “We appreciate Hardball Capital’s commitment to our community,” said Mayor Richard. “We have not seen significant private investment in downtown in several years. Our community is in a unique position to have a world-class developer team wanting to make investments in our downtown.” Mayor Richard encouraged Rotary members to get involved in learning more about Harrison Square. The City has a Speakers Bureau available to make presentations to groups and organizations. Groups and organizations may contact the Deputy Mayor’s office at 427-1111 to set up a time and place for a Speakers Bureau member to lead a discussion about the project. Mayor Richard’s first Report to the People for 2007 will be at 8 a.m. Tuesday, February 6 at the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, 826 Ewing St. Last week, the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors announced its support of Harrison Square.

Read:
http://cityoffortwayne.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1102&Itemid=634

Memorial Stadium Study

Potential Re-Use of Memorial Stadium to be Studied


The City of Fort Wayne, Allen County and IPFW have reached an agreement on a memorandum of understanding to examine the potential re-use of Memorial Stadium. Last month, the City of Fort Wayne announced plans for a proposed mixed-use downtown development, “Harrison Square,” that would include a hotel, residential condominiums, street level retail, a baseball stadium, and parking garage. At that time, IPFW officials expressed an interest in the current Memorial Stadium serving as the home for IPFW sporting and community events.
Key components of the Memorandum of Understanding: *Conduct an analysis of the operating cost of Memorial Stadium, including an analysis of any modifications to the stadium that may be required to accommodate IPFW and other alternative community uses. *Develop a financial plan for the long-term management and maintenance of the stadium. *IPFW and Allen County will work to negotiate a lease interest in the stadium. This would depend on Hardball Capital, the owner of the Fort Wayne Wizards, terminating its lease with the stadium. *IPFW would utilize the stadium for its baseball program and promote the use of the stadium as a community multi-use facility/venue. *The City agrees to contribute funds toward the cost of the financial analysis. *Contingent on the successful negotiation of a lease interest in the stadium by IPFW; the City, County and IPFW will agree to develop and contribute to a funding plan to support possible physical modifications to the stadium and support the establishment of an endowment to assist IPFW with long-term maintenance of the stadium.

Read:
http://cityoffortwayne.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1101&Itemid=634

From Atlanta to Fort Wayne

Atlanta, a blueprint for other cities

An article in today's issue of the Journal Gazette showed how the Atlanta aquarium acted as a catalyst project for downtown developement in Atlanta.

Article:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/16566663.htm

Do you think that Fort Wayne could see more private investment in downtown as a result of Harrison Square?

The hotel Holds the Key

Another article in today's Journal Gazette focused on the hotel aspect of the project-
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/16566659.htm

Eminent Domain

One developer of the Harrison Square Project is critical of eminent domain-
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16566679.htm

Financing for Harrison Square Compaired to Southtown

Financing for Southtown Centre and Harrison Square are similar, although Harrison Square is on a much larger scale-
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16566677.htm

Keeping it Quiet

The city's quest of buying more than 50 properties downtown saves money-
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/16561035.htm


Do you think it was right for the city to use eminent domain to aquire property downtown?

Could Harrison Square spawn millions of dollars worth of private investment downtown in the future, such as the Atlanta Aquarium did?

DIG Meeting Schedule, March Meetings, contact information

We've been informed that the DIG website has been updated.

DIG March meeting Schedule:
March 10th- "Restore, Renew, Revitalize" series hosted by DIG, open to public
Time and location will be released 1 week prior to the event.

Also, again we would like to inform you that DIG has no affiliation with DID, the Downtown Improvement Group, or the City of Fort Wayne. It is simply a grass-roots organization created by the public, for the public.

On another note, we now have our email address availible, so just click the link below or look at the side to send us an email!
________________________________________________________
Questions? Comments? Send us an email!
thedowntowntimes@yahoo.com

Library cost up to $54 million

$54 million has been spent so far in expanding the Main Library downtown, out of a $64 million budget.

The total cost of the expansion and renovation of over half of the library branches is nearly $84.1 million.

Upon opening, the Main Library Downtown will be the largest public library in the state, larger than Indianapolis' newly renovated main library, which is larger in size, but most of that space is consumed by a massive built-in parking garage.

The Grand Re-opening of the main library will be this Saturday (the 27th) at noon. Tours and live music will be provided at the opening.

Article:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16543236.htm

Over half a million people downtown?

Estimating the numbers...

In an article recently published by the Journal Gazette, it was reported that Memorial Stadium currently brings in close to 250,000 attendees per season, and that number could be increased to nearly 300,000 per season with the move downtown.

It was also reported that the Geneaology department of the Main Library brings in about 100,000 people per year, and they're hoping to increase that number to nearly 150,000 people with their move downtown.

With those given numbers, as well as taking into consideration the other projects involved in the Harrison Square project, that could equal out to a rise of 1,718 people more downtown per day for recreational activites (baseball, shopping, library) than what we have now. Now, also take into consideration that these estimates are mid-range, with the high end nearing 2,000.

So, looking at the upside of things, this could equal out to 730,000 more people downtown over the course of a year than the amount of people downtown now per year for recreational activities. That is a major rise, as compared to the fewer-than-one thousand downtown for recreational activities per day today.

So ultimately, the Harrison Square project could generate much more income than some have said, some saying it would be a total flop and end up costing more than it would be making.

Also, the numbers could be somewhat higher, considering that the hotel, and other downtown developement, was excluded from the estimates. There are already small boutiques and shops apparent in the main core, and a new mexican eatery is to open soon on Columbia Street.

So in all, these numbers possibly could be reaching the 800,000-900,000 mark once the Harrison Square project is completed.

If you ask me, a rise of 800,000 people seems like a pretty large number to me. And surely that would generate somewhat of an income.

Now, the disadvantages:

As also stated in the article, the number of cars that pass the library's current location as compared to the expanded location are significantly lower. Given the figures that were in the article, I estimated it to be about 15,500 cars less. That is a major difference, but you also have to take into consideration that Renaissance Square is in a busier part of downtown. Therefore, it's going to have more traffic. And there is also a much higher percentage rate of cars going to the library passing their original location than the percentage of cars going to the library passing their temporary location.

So in all, it balances out for the most part, and shouldn't have too much of an effect on the library's overall performance. It's location may even help it out some, since traffic in that area isn't as heavy and they now provide people with free underground parking (although when I went on a tour through the library about a year ago, the underground parking garage did seem fairly small, but reasonable).

Money money money...

The cost of the Library expansion and baseball stadium alone adds up to be about $114.1 million. Thats a fairly hefty pricetag for two projects out of the many listed in the Harrison Square project. However, with the estimated influx of nearly 800,000 people downtown, things will likely balance out there could likely be a small surplus from the overall project.


Article with Memorial Stadium information:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/16534540.htm

Article with Library information:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/special_packages/library/16489935.htm

Indianapolis, a comparable city?

One thing you hear plenty of people say is "You can't compare Fort Wayne to Indianapolis."



But why not? If you think about it, and really look at the statistics, maybe we're smaller but we're not all that different. Indianapolis has recently (within the last 20 or so years) worked on improving their downtown, and I consider their efforts a good example of what Fort Wayne is working towards.



Maybe our goal isn't to get an NFL team, or some multi-billion dollar arena, but the primary focus is still there, work with what you have- and improve it.



Now look what happened when Indianapolis worked on revitalizing their downtown. They now have Circle Centre mall, the Hoosier Dome, Conseco Fieldhouse, plenty of retail, and people started to move inward again, and downtown living spaces started to appear.



Now some will argue that people aren't moving downtown at all, and that they're really moving outwards into the suburbs. However, this is also untrue. Within that past 20 years, Indianapolis has seen various residential units built, due to the sucess of their revitalization efforts. One major improvement was the construction of the Riley towers, two mamoth 300 ft. residential towers on the north side of downtown Indianapolis.

Their improvements started in the 1970's, and still continue to this day. Indianapolis today is nearly unrecognizable as compared to 30 to 40 years ago.

One thing that they started with was making their downtown more friendly towards pedestrians. This has clearly also been a starting block for Fort Wayne, as we have seen high-speed streets narrowed, Headwaters Park, sidewalks repaved, as well as beautified streetscapes.

Once you have these in place, you start aiming for reasons for people to be downtown, such as entertainment, eateries, etc.

This isn't something that just happens overnight, its a process of events.

One thing that I tend to say is that hotel downtown right now, would more than likely not be successful. Simply because there is no market for downtown hotels at this time. You need to have a strong base for a hotel to build off of first, this base is entertainment. Right now, the way I see it, Fort Wayne is working it's way towards building this base, with retail becoming more numerous, and eateries providing plenty of support. However, this "base" is not yet strong enough to support a hotel yet. Now with the addition of the Harrison Square project, I believe that it will contribute enough to create a strong enough base to support a new downtown hotel.

And basing upon the fact that a new downtown hotel is one of the key factors of the Harrison Square projects, this works quite well.

It has been reported that Hardball Capital, who owns the Fort Wayne Wizards, is only investing $5 million towards the new stadium, with $30 million being the total cost. A survey released recently stated that more than half of the community thought that Hardball Capital should be putting more towards the stadium. However, I have not yet looked into this survery, so I can't say how accurate it really is.

Also, it has been brought up that Hardball capital has built hotels in Atlanta, but says the project is a no-go if a hotel is not found for the Harrison Square project. I cannot verify that they have built any hotels in Atlanta, but I can say that I don't believe there is anything wrong with the fact that they are not putting any money towards the hotel, simply because of the millions of dollars they are investing in other areas of the Harrison Square project. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Reaction to recent opposition to Harrison Square project.

A poll was taken recently by The Journal Gazette and Indiana's Newscenter regarding downtown and the Harrison Square projects.

The results aren't much of a surprise at all, with about 70% of participants saying that downtown revitalization is important, but many did not support the stadium project or a third downtown hotel. However, there was a greater amount of support for downtown parking and retail developement.

Deputy Mayor Mark Becker had the following reaction to the results-
"If all you plan to do is build a baseball stadium, don’t do it,” he said. “This is not just a baseball stadium.”

Dan Carmody, director of the Downtown Improvement District, also had a reaction to the poll results, saying “I think we have to do a much better job of selling the project,” .

On WOWO's The Pat White show, many called in with their reactions to the poll, as well as the Harrison Square project. Similar results were found.

Some, such as City Councilman Tim Pape, are questioning the accuracy of the poll, and the Journal Gazette reported him saying that even he might opose such a project if the questions were asked to him in the manner that they were asked to other Allen County Residents.

To see poll results, visit:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16513544.htm

To see reactions from city officials to the poll, visit:
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/16513264.htm


Feel free to leave your comments and feedback regarding the poll and the Harrison Square project.

DIG Meeting Cancelled

If you picked up a copy of DIG's January/February newsletter, or took a look at their website lately, you've probably noticed that there is a public meeting scheduled for February 10th. The location of this meeting was not announced do to a scheduling conflict, in which the only resolution would be to cancel the meeting.

We have been informed that the meeting clashed with another meeting already scheduled, therefore the DIG meeting for February 10th has been cancelled.

However, the following meetings are still in place-
-February 3rd, Board Meeting.
-March 10th, Public Meeting.

Hopeful hotels...

Last I heard, the deadline for hotels to submit their proposals for the Harrison Square project was sometime in early February. Maybe around the 12th or 13th.

Now, as of this moment, there haven't been any proposals announced. Now remember this doesn't mean nothings going to happen. Last I heard, there were a couple Hotel chains looking at investing in the project and becoming downtown Fort Wayne's third hotel, although I'm not completely positive on that information and I can't verify that.

Now as it has been noted before, a new hotel downtown at the moment would be a complete flop more than likely, simply because there's no business for another hotel downtown at the moment. Look at the Holiday Inn for example, last I heard they have an average occupancy rate of 44%. And those numbers are likely to drop if a new hotel were to be added.

Now the addition of a hotel with the Harrison Square project, I honestly think is a brilliant plan, given that you need to give people a reason to stay downtown before you build a hotel, and Harrison Square could do just that.

So in short, a new hotel downtown would likely be successful, especially with the possible closing of the downtown Holiday Inn. Now we'll just have to wait and see if the proposals come in...