FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Inside Indiana Business) – Downtown Fort Wayne has seen more than $1 billion in investment over the past decade, and the pace has picked up over the last few years. From Promenade Park along the St. Mary’s River to the $30 million boutique hotel The Bradley to the $286 million first phase of the Electric Works mixed-use innovation district, the city aims to make downtown a popular place to live, work and play.
The developers of Electric Works are preparing to open the first phase in a matter of weeks, and Jeff Kingsbury with Ancora Partners says the project is a symbol of the city’s resiliency.
Kingsbury discussed the effort in an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.
“We were able to really persevere amidst some major challenges, but we’re about 70% pre-leased today,” said Kingsbury. “This is really going to be a center of innovation and economic development for the next century for this community and region.”
Electric Works is being built on the former General Electric campus with the first phase including 10 buildings featuring office, coworking, education, retail and entertainment space, which Kingsbury says is key.
“Creating a place where talent wants to be is a common denominator among really all of the folks that are wanting to have a presence here is talent. ‘Live, work, shop, play, learn and innovate’ is really what the district is all about.”
Fort Wayne-based Do It Best Corp. will be the anchor tenant of Electric Works bringing some 400 jobs to the site. Washington D.C.-based Carr Workplaces, which was named property manager for the district in July, last week opened its coworking space at Electric Works, as well as another location in Indianapolis.
Another key aspect of the project, Amp Lab at Electric Works, is already open, giving a STEM-centered focus for high school students at Fort Wayne Community Schools.
But it’s not just K-12 students who will have an opportunity to learn at Electric Works, according to Kingsbury.
“We want to create the continuum of education and training opportunities really from pre-K up to and through degrees, as well as incumbent working training and retraining, so that we can stay current and aligned with the state’s workforce development strategy.”
Kingsbury says Electric Works, like 16 Tech in Indianapolis, the Discovery Park District in West Lafayette and the Renaissance District in South Bend, could bring benefits for the state beyond Fort Wayne.
“I think there’s a real opportunity here if we can start to create programmatic and strategic connections between these hubs of innovation, it could really help to manifest this overall statewide development strategy and differentiate us.”
