The story of how the city quietly acquired the property for Harrison Square:
It wasn't an easy task for Greg Leatherman and Bill Martin: track down 32 different owners of 50 properties and negotiate to buy their homes, businesses or empty lots.
They had little leverage
Comments
Scott:
I admire your enthusiasm for downtown Fort Wayne and hope you always have it. My opposition to this proposal is that it is only about downtown development to the extent necessary to cover private speculation and private investment over a baseball team.
We didn't develop a Harrison Square proposal and choose to include a baseball stadium. They chose a baseball stadium and atre trying to sell it by saying ignore the stadium, look at the condos.
I would be DELIGHTED if, since we apparently now own the property, the City solicited proposals for a development. The City could offer:
Land, free or on favorable terms;
Tax credits and incentives;
Cash;
Up to a total of $75 million-
For:
A mixed use development that includes an appropriate hotel and ?
Proposals will be evaluated by:
1. Degree of private investment;
2. Enhancement of Fort Wayne and likelihood of spurring further downtown development.
3. Economic viablity;
and
4. Minimization of future risk to the City.
But we don't do things that way in Fort Wayne. I don't think the project is DOA. I think it is 98% a done deal, no matter what the expense or the deception.
I don't see where Hardball is paying for them, Scott. If they bear 100 percent of the risk should the project fail, I wouldn't have a problem with it.
alex,
Sorry for the confusion. I read it as though you thought Hardball had no stake in the condos and retail. I wish I had a physical copy of the paper from Jan 28 that had a big pie chart showing the pricing breakdown for each component. I can't remember if Hardball is paying 100% for those components or not. If not 100% it's a very high percentage. I would like to know also.
@alex: Thanks for responding, but I'm sorry, if I hear the Midtowne Crossing argument one more time I think I'll slit my wrists! Give it a rest, already! (Again, nothing personal, just passionately frustrated.) No, it's hasn't been a raging success. No, it hasn't spurred on other developments. But so what! It's done, it's over, it's in the past. Let's move on! Anyway, it's generally acknowledged to have been before it's time in terms of urban/suburban trends. But if the example of... basically... every other city our size or more in America and pretty much the whole world is any example, trends have changed!!! (Fort Wayne, for some strange reason, has completely missed that trend. Completely! I mean what in the world explains the fact that in every other city, the closer you are to the center the more expensive the housing, while in the Fort it's the complete opposite?!)
The national pendulum that swung one direction in the 60's, 70's, and 80's and drove - literally - millions to the burbs, swung back in the 90's and today, driving millions back to the City. This is not even up for debate. People want to live and work downtown. Even in FW. No, of course not everybody. No, not even enough currently to persuade fiscally conservative and intellectually conventional local developers to take some risks and lead the way, but still enough to warrant legitimate respect. And enough to do the hard work of on the ground, hands on revitalization that ultimately benefits all the others who simply enjoy coming downtown once in a while to enjoy what only it can offer.
The success or failure of MC has absolutely nothing to do with the Fort's future. People are literally aching to live downtown. For example, I just had this exchange with a local blogger in response to his posting a photo showing his backyard view of the backs of other cookie-cutter houses somewhere out in sprawlville:
Me: "Do you ever get tired of looking at those monotonous, mundane, spirit-numbing "house-scapes"?! In other words, ever thought about [living] downtown?"
Sprawlville resident: "Sure, I do. I am waiting on a cool loft condo to become available."
Rule Number 1 in anything that happens in this town- FOLLOW THE MONEY
Another case of "top-down" leadership in fort wayne. The poll numbers are in. we dont want to pay for another grandiose; dubious downtown development. The only denizens who frequent downtown either have a vested interest in downtown- property owners, parking lot owners, and businesses who make their living as "governmental parasites"- entities who make their living extracting taxpayers and citizens money for their own convenience, or use.
Sorry if all you bankers, lawyers, and others who live and work downtown are inconvenienced by the lack of amenities downtown. Its self evident that market forces are in control here.
Downtown has a very poor track record when it comes to supporting other than the afore mentioned parasites.
Not to mention running the gauntlet of local blue shirted Soviets on the lookout for "suspicious persons, or vehicles"- i.e. anybody out after 6 pm who may have had 2 beers after work at one of the few remaining watering holes- is subject to police harassment and or arrest.
Why go into a police state zone when you dont have to?
there are so many reasons that this city is a culture of corruption, and a totalitarian state, with no little or no opportunity.
So other than the jobs created by the developers, contractors, and construction laborers, after it is built, what REAL living wage jobs will be developed?
Mayor richard is fond of trotting out his version of "Barbaro"-(a dead horse living on borrowed time)- southtown Mall.
Lets look at the jobs created- a couple dozen retail, service sector jobs, and a few management jobs- which consist of downsized, outsoruced, off-shored harvester, et-al casualties of the global economy. (not to mention illegal immigrant lawbreakers)
these jobs pay a fraction of the old manufacturing, heavy industrial jobs that these replace. Not to mention all the made in china, and 4th world products on the shelves.
So where is the economic benefit of either harrison square, or southtown mall, other than $6 dollars an hour is better than $0 dollars an hour for the working poor?
Allen county has devolved into a 2 class society- sycamore and cherrymaster hillbillies,of Aboite, and the poor starving peasants starving masses living in Wayne and Adams township.
They are cooking the economic data, and slanting it to thier own agendas- of greed;
We the citizens are being lied to again, by our leadership.
All this so-called economic development is at the expense, and to no benefit to the voiceless working poor who are lucky to be able to choose between food, or rent.
Its no wonder there is so much brain-drain, and persons leaving not just Fort Wayne, but Indiana. (we have lost 1 entire congressional district due to mass exodus.
by the way- the alliance online website, when I checked it yesterday, listed Raytheon, and ITT as employers looking to hire. So how is a bunch of Semi-truck Engineers suppose to learn about advanced military electronic engineering technology? plus have a top sectet clearance, and pass a full national scrutiny background check?
The Who once sang about "Wont get fooled again'. fool me once- microstandard, rimsat, midtowne crossing, etc. shame on you.
fool me twice(harrison square-etc)- shame on me.
kill this Taxpayer Boondoggle ASAP!
Please, Scott, don't slit your wrists.
I appreciate your passion. There was a time I felt as strongly as you do that we should be trying to create a trendy urban center here. But to say we should be doing something simply because it's a trend?
The national trend you're talking about is driven by real economic forces that happen to be absent here. Downtown residential development happens in communities where downtown is still the primary locus of jobs and suburban sprawl has made commuting untenable. In the Fort, a relative handful of people work downtown today, and commute times aren't particularly bad despite the sprawl.
I bring up Midtowne Crossing and will continue to do so because it was crammed down our throats just like the current project, and hyped with exactly the same promises. I would argue that the current proposal is ahead of its time -- not everyone's dead yet who remembers the folly of the last one.
@alex: Don't worry, I won't. ;-) Just kidding, of course.
But what I meant by trend, though, is not the fashion-type or reality TV-type that changes yearly, or even semi-annually! What I'm talking about is the long-term trend toward cultural vitality and civic pride and diversity and community and stimulating activity that reverses previous decades-long patterns of abandoning the richness of city life community pride for the blandness and banality of suburban sprawl. This is not "trendy", but rather a significant and substantial "trend". It's not universal by any means, but it can't be written off as having no import for the Fort.
Trust mean, I'm not under any delusions that FW will ever imitate NYC or Chicago, or even Indy or Columbus. But I passionately believe it can and should be better than it is today. That's all I'm hoping for. Not much, but something grand nevertheless.
And as for HS being ahead of it's time... huh? Basically, we're the only city our size that HASN'T done it!!
Well, Scott, we're decades behind other communities in another very important respect: White flight. The local media never address it as such, as it's a sensitive issue, but word on the street is that people are afraid of FWCS. I've heard it myself from plenty of people who loved their homes and neighborhoods in the city who detest beige vinyl suburbia but went there nonetheless because they fear for their kids' well being in school due to the enormous amount of bad press about gangs and drugs at FWCS.
I returned to Fort Wayne from Chicago two years ago, where inward migration has been going on at an enormous pace for years, and can tell you also that the trend has a lot to do with another phenomenon: Suburbs becoming seedy and full of the urban problems people sought to escape in the first place.
We're out of step with some of the larger economic forces that drive migration. It's been big news the past few days that another retail strip mall just got approved on Illinois Road, as if that artery needed anything else. The same civic leaders who say they want HS to happen don't even think about how they're aiding and abetting the very things that make it virtually impossible to lure people downtown. What could any retailer provide downtown that isn't already being offered where people live in the 'burbs?
When I say that we should be shoring up other parts of the city, it's because the trend here is to run outward from deterioration and this trend has a ways to go yet before people start seeing economic sense in coming back to the center.
How many times has some career politician counted on his done deals being soon forgotten by the public? If Midtowne Crossing continues to ring in the ears of those who hope to sell Fort Wayne another half-baked pig in a poke, then maybe MC was worth more than we thought, by preventing subsequent opportunists from foisting similar boondoggles on the city.
>hillbillies of Aboite
A very funny characterization which has more truth in it than will be comfortable for many profiteers trying to exploit Aboite.
Exploit Aboite! -- A pretty good slogan for those capitalists trying to make their millions in newly-annexed Aboite with no interest in investment to assure the infrastructure keeps pace with their exploitation. This could become Fort Wayne's version of strip mining: Annex and exploit without investment.
Last I heard, Midtowne Crossing is full right now and people who recently sold did so at an 8% appreciation level, which is expected to go up still.
Suburbs becoming seedy and full of the urban problems people sought to escape in the first place.
Exactly - and here's a little secret: those big outlying schools have their share of problems, too....and they always have.
I grew up on the southeast part of Fort Wayne, and walked to John S Irwin school (back when LBJ was president), and then rode a bus to Weisser Park and then to Geyer (when Gerald Ford was president); and I drove to South Side (when Jimmy Carter was president). I got a great education and steered clear of the no-goodnicks....
and for what it's worth, a friend of mine from John S Irwin days - whose dad put in 40 years at Tokheim - moved from where we lived (by McMillan Park) over to Southwest Fort Wayne (off of Liberty Mills Road). Back then, there was mostly woods out there, and he attended Homestead High School, and became a druggie.
So when I hear anything about Homestead, that's what I'm reminded of (at some level) - whereas South Side remains a very proud presence (in my estimation. I think that as Fort Wayne grows, FWCS ought to absorb some of these outlying school systems, too.
If those people want to bitch and moan about being part of Fort Wayne, we should REALLY give them something to chew on! (and it is a bonus that FWCS will run their schools better than they do)
This is a great thread with a lot of good points...
There IS ONE PROJECT that could be undertaken Downtown that could serve as a catylsyst for Downtown Fort Wayne.
A casino.
A casino would pay for itself and draw THOUSANDS of people to Fort Wayne...
Mike Sylvester
@alex: You speak well, and I appreciate your points. Maybe someday we'll meet and reminisce about our big city experiences.
I agree, I think, about white flight. It's a terrible, terrible problem in FW, and one that never gets talked about. And that in the City of Churches! (Although I do know of at least one primarily white church that's not fleeing - Fellowship Missionary Church, on Tillman Road. They're putting their money where their mouths are.)
Separately, we may be strange, but we're white and we're coming back to the center, even though it doesn't make economic sense. To us, living out in Sprawlville would be near fatal. And I have to believe, notwithstanding economics, that other feel the same but are just a little too scared to take the first step. I've talked to some who say, perhaps even sincerely, "If you do it, we'll follow." Well, we'll see.
BTW, where abouts do you live?
@Mike: I know you know my thoughts on the casino, but I have to post them again, here, for the record.
http://greiders.blogspot.com/2007/01/gambling-and-education-funding.html
Scott, I'm out in the boonies but not the 'burbs. In fact I'm bothered by all the encroaching development, but fortunately somewhat buffered by Izaak Walton and ACRES preserves. I'm living in the house in the country I always wanted and could finally afford thanks to the absurd amount of equity I got out of my little condo in Chi-Town. I sold for almost four times what I paid.
Scott,
You state that "Basically, we're the only city our size that HASN'T done it!!"
By this do mean build a stadium or attempt to revitalize downtown? I would submit that MANY communities have revitalized their downtown w/o a publicly financed stadium...
@Jeff: I meant basic revitalization, or even just attempts at it. You may be right about many doing so without a publicly financed stadium.
Hi
Very interesting information! Thanks!
G'night
Great post, thanks for getting the word out.