Generating Interest...High In Demand

Leisure Demand Generators

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - It's another feather in the cap for the home of the Tin-Caps. Parkview Field has been ranked No. 1 out of all 160 MiLB ballparks in the nation, according to Stadium Journey. The magazine released its 2014 Midwest League Ball-park Rankings on Monday.

"A team with a facility as impressive as Parkview Field could easily just open

the gates and let the fans roll in," the review reads. "The TinCaps organization

SPRING 2015 DOWNTOWN

GREATER FORT WAYNE INC

200 E. MAIN ST.

SUITE 800

FORT WAYNE, IN 46802

T 260 420-6945

W GreaterFortWayneInc.com

Inside this issue:

Leisure Demand Generators

1

Downtown Improvement

4

Corporate Demand Generators

6

THE LANDING Downtown Housing Market

7-8

The Big Reveal: Master Plan for Riverfront Develop-ment Announced

9-10

Visitors’ Economic Impact VisitFortWayne

11-12

By The Numbers 13

PARKVIEW FIELD RANKED #1

Story by John Nolan/Fort Wayne TinCaps

does nothing of the sort. This organization strives to offer fans one of the best game day experiences anywhere. This commitment is evident from the top of the organization to the game-day employees working throughout the ballpark. From the mo-ment you step foot in Parkview Field you will find a dedication to cus-tomer service that is unmatched not only in minor league baseball, but in all of sports."

Stadium Journey rated Parkview Field a 4.7 out of 5.0. The magazine's "FANFARE Score" is a metric device for rating each stadium experi-ence that covers food and beverage, atmos-phere, neighborhood, fans, access, return on investment, and extras. Each area is rated from 0 to 5 stars with 5 being the best. The overall composite is the "FANFARE Score."

Parkview Field received

a 5 in food and bever-

age, atmosphere, fans,

return on investment,

and extras. The Down-

town Fort Wayne ball-

park was given 4s for

access and neighbor-

hood.

"The TinCaps appreciate

seeing Parkview Field

recognized as the best

MiLB ballpark in the

country," TinCaps Presi-

dent Mike Nutter said.

"To be ranked #1 in the

entire country is amaz-

ing and is a testament to

our community, the region, and

the revitalization of downtown.

We're proud of the success

we've had since moving to

Downtown Fort Wayne in 2009

and are excited to continue

working hard to provide our

fans with the best possible ex-

perience every time they come

to Parkview Field."

Another Record Year

Parkview Field set new records

for overall (411,028),

regular season (406,715), and

single-game (9,182)

attendance during the 2014

season.

Page 2 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

2012 2013 2014 Attendance 70 Home 408,044 410,458 411,028

Number of Events (non- 602 612 677

Events (non-TinCaps) 102,670 92,997 144,120

TOTAL ATTEND- 510,714 503,455 555,148

We’re a 10! Sports Venue Experiences

in North America

1 Camden Yards Baltimore Orioles MLB

2 Amsoil Arena Minnesota-Duluth

3 Dayton Speedway NASCAR

4 PNC Park Pittsburgh Pirates MLB

5 Busch Stadium St. Louis Cardinals MLB

6 Univ of Notre Dame Compton Family Ice Arena

7 Indian Wells Tennis Indian Wells, California

8 Xcel Energy Center Minnesota Wild

9 Carolina Stadium USC Gamecocks

10 PARKVIEW

FIELD Fort Wayne Tin Caps

11 Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis Colts NFL

TinCaps Named 2014 MiLB

Team of the Year Ballpark Digest Recognizes Organizational Excellence

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Fort Wayne is in-vesting in a study that will look at the impact of bring-ing a new arena to down-town.

The $40,000 study is in its preliminary stages. Based on the results over the next few months, city officials could discuss a mid-size arena.

“We’re a city on the move. We have a lot of momen-tum: Parkview Field, the

Harrison, housing down-town. We’re seeing a lot of growth, we’re seeing a lot of development,” said John Perlich, spokesperson for the mayor’s office.

Perlich said it makes sense that a downtown arena would be discussed next.

“What we’ve been hearing from not only residents but developers locally and throughout the country is, ‘have you looked at what a downtown arena could pos-

sibly do in Fort Wayne?’ Would it be feasible? Would it work? And so, that’s really what we’re doing,” said Perlich.

The city chose Chicago-based Hunden Strategic Partners for the study.

“The consulting firm that we

selected has a lot of experi-

ence looking at downtowns

across the country. They’ve

actually done studies here

in Fort Wayne,” said Perlich.

events. Two large pavilions host popular events like Germanfest, Ribfest, Greek-

Headwaters Park is strategi-cally located at the conflu-ence of the three rivers and was designed to mitigate flood control issues. 500,000 people attend Headwaters Park annually. Its location provides a per-fectly positioned area that hosts over 50 festivals, con-certs, charitable and special

fest, and other popular ven-ues. In the winter, the Ice Rink opens to the public.

DOWNTOWN ARENA

HEADWATERS PARK

“Over 40,000

people attend

Germanfest

annually.”

Page 3 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

City of Fort Wayne is investing in study that looks at a Downtown Arena

Downtown Fun Fort Wayne’s Downtown Improvement District is the organization estab-lished under State of Indi-ana Statute designed to provide top-shelf services for businesses located in Downtown Fort Wayne.

Much of the success growth to the Downtown communi-ty can be attributed to a number of very popular programming events.

For nine days each summer and for 47 years, this annual event draws nearly a half a million visitors to Downtown. Festival-goers enjoy tasty treats at the Food Alley, Art in the Park, Raft Race, TRF Parade, and so much more.

Three Rivers Festival

“Musicians, jugglers,

living statues, stilt

walkers, and

pyrotechnics are the

first five reasons why

this year’s BuskerFest

promises to be five

times the fun!”

Page 4 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

469,000+ Attendees

Enhances appearances of the streets, sidewalks, and public spaces. The D.I.D. uses the Clean & Green Am-bassador Services to maintain and enhance the appearance of sidewalks, curbs and right-of-way via litter patrols, power washing and detailed cleaning, e.g. weed and graffiti removal.

Clean & Green

BuskerFest is a celebration of street performers and a festival of the unex-pected. Musicians, jugglers, living statues, stilt walkers, and pyrotechnics fill the streetscape for this family-friendly event. The DID hosts its locally renowned, admission-free Buskerfest on the last Saturday in June.

BuskerFest 8,500+ Attendees

5,000+ Attendees

This very popular, summer event draws large crowds throughout the Downtown. Over 30 restaurant vendors, 10 performance stages, and an art marketplace contribute to this event’s success. Proceeds help to make innovative arts and educational programming accessible to our community.

Taste of the Arts

Fright Night 7,500+ Attendees

Downtown Fort Wayne’s annual Halloween event features the zombie walk, haunted tours and spooky activities.

Night of Lights/Holly Trolley 15,600+ Attendees

The holiday season officially begins with Night of Lights, the ceremonious lighting of Fort Wayne’s most treasured holiday displays.

FORT WAYNE: “In 2013 we booked 52 conventions, 2014 we will end the year around 53 and targeting around the same for 2015,” Marcy McKin-ley, Sales & Marketing Direc-tor, Grand Wayne Convention Center. “The GWCC has put more of a focus on our corporate mar-ket segment and we continue to see a rise in corporate meetings/events. The GWCC will host 12 Holiday Parties this year. We will host over 100 corporate/local events in 2014.” “We will host 16 Wedding receptions in 2014. We have a large number of clients that are looking for offsite venues to host dinners/luncheons,” McKinley said. “As for private parties – there’s a real demand for

spaces for events, both re-lated to the convention cen-ter and not,” Megan Flohr, Visit Fort Wayne adds. “One aspect of meetings and events in recent years is the downsizing of food func-tions. Basically, where a conference used to have X number of banquets and luncheons, many have now gone to 1 or 2 events and the rest are meals on their own. Lots of times this ends up meaning a few vendors

go in together and host something off-site. There are a very limited number of restaurants currently that have the type and size of spaces that can accommo-date this. There are also smaller events coming into town – trainings and such, as well as business groups, teams, families, etc. There’s lots of potential for the right-priced location.” Visit Fort Wayne

Another Record Year

“We have a

large number of

clients that are

looking for

offsite venues to

host dinners/

luncheons.”

Page 5 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

Meeting/Conference Demand Generators GRAND WAYNE CONVENTION CENTER

Annual attendance (2014) over 225,000

A $10 Million renovation is ongoing at the seven-story Indiana Hotel and the attached Historic Embassy Theatre, a local performing arts theatre. Most of these areas have been unused for more than 40 years and are now taking shape. The plan calls for a two-story high ball-room and rooftop garden, studio and rehearsal space,

classrooms, history center and improved public access and concession areas. Renovation is scheduled to be completed by 2016. 2013 Attendance: 118,370 2014 Attendance: 112,073

*The Embassy hosts roughly 45 private parties per year.

THE HISTORIC EMBASSY THEATRE

Page 6 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

“We believe in Fort

Wayne, and our

decision to build our

national

headquarters

downtown is a grand

slam for all of us,”

Tim Ash, President &

CEO Ash Brokerage

Corporation.

Corporate Demand Generators

DOWNTOWN HOTELS & LODGING

Located in the heart of downtown, two award winning hotels are conveniently con-nected to the Grand Wayne Convention Center and to the Historic Embassy Theater via Sky Bridges. Visitors enjoy spectacular views of Parkview Field and the Tin Caps baseball games. The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown and the Hilton at the Grand Wayne Center have enjoyed growing occupancy rates since 2010.

DOWNTOWN INVESTMENT HISTORY

FORT WAYNE— Including the Anthony Wayne Build-ing, Randall Lofts and the Harrison there have been 144 units constructed in the last couple of years. Currently under develop-ment, over 300 residential units in the residential portion of Skyline Terrace, Cityscape Flats and Superi-or Lofts (Real America).

Since 2004 there has been $467M of investment in downtown Fort Wayne. This

includes $241M of private funds, $192.6M of local funds, $25.8M of state funds

and $7.8M of federal funds. Ash Brokerage plans to build its corporate head-quarters in Downtown Fort Wayne with over 100,000 square feet of available office space. The project includes a parking garage and over 20,000 square feet of first-floor retail space. The combine pri-vate-public investment totals over $70 Million.

(AMI range for 2 person to 4 person households is $47K to $59). The forecast absorption of owner units over the next 5 to 7 years is about 700. Owners are forecast to have income that supports purchase prices in the range of $95K to $250K. The down-town housing market is forecast to be dominated by younger singles and childless couples (64%) with empty nesters and traditional families making

Page 7 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

DOWNTOWN HOUSING MARKET

FORT WAYNE — Mayor Tom Henry announced on January 13th that pro-gress has been made on Columbia Street at The Landing. Local leaders gathered to celebrate the strategic acquisitions of several important buildings.

The Historic Landing district is the origin of much of downtown Fort Wayne’s commercial origins. When commerce was transported in the 1830’s, the Wabash & Erie Canal Sys-tem provided a pre-railroad means via canal boats to connect Lake Erie to the Ohio River.

Fort Wayne broke ground at The Landing in 1832 and commercial suc-cess and development soon put Fort Wayne on an upward development

trajectory. Thomas Alva Edison, the world re-nowned inventor, worked in one of the Columbia St. buildings as a young telegraph operator in 1864. Many of the existing buildings have historic designations and plans to re-develop and repurpose have already been executed by a local non-profit, the Downtown Development Trust.

The Trust was formed in 2011 to buy vacant or underutilized property in the downtown area, with the purpose of reselling to new owners for rede-velopment. To date, the Trust has

FORT WAYNE—The downtown hous-ing market can support 200 to 250 additional rental and owner occu-pied units per year over the next five to seven years, according to Laurie Volk, a market analyst for New Jer-sey based Zimmerman/Volk. The forecast absorption of rental units over the next 5-7 years is about 800 units. Renters are forecast to have income that support rents in

the range of $475 to $2,000. A major-ity of the rentals in this forecast seg-ment of the market has income that is greater than 80% of the area median

purchased seven buildings and two parking lots on West Columbia St. with more than $3.1 Million invest-ed with the singular purpose to attract an ambitious and enthusias-tic developer.

A local architectural firm, Design Collaborative, whose origins began at the Landing, has sketched a new design which envisions a new brick street, restaurants, retail stores at the street level with mixed use liv-ing units or offices in the upper floors. New Gateway archways adorn the two entrances to the east and west ends. Trust officials estimate an RFP forthcoming in the next 3 to 4 months and hope for project completion within the next three to five years.

PROGRESS ON THE LANDING

Mayor Tom Henry stands with Fort Wayne Downtown Development Trust board presi-dent, Maclyn Parker, at the January 13th news conference.

Page 8 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

Thomas

Project Units

Added

Antici-

pated

Opening

Date

Cityscape Flats 167 Fall 2017

The Landing 100+ approx

?

Ash Skyline Plaza 90+ approx

?

Superior Lofts 66 Spring

2016

The Harrison 62 2013

Randall Lofts 44 Fall 2014

Anthony Wayne 38 2012

up the balance (19% and 17% respectively). The forecast for buyers and renters in the down-town housing market will in-creasingly come from beyond Fort Wayne and Allen County. In 2006, about 78% of the downtown housing market was forecast to come from Allen County and by 2014 that share

dropped to 65%. The share of out-of-town buyers and renters that comprise the downtown housing market is expected to increase from the current 35% (this is up from the 19% forecast in 2006). The trend is for more of the downtown market to be absorbed by out-of-towners.

ANNUAL MARKET POTENTIAL

FROM OUTSIDE THE CITY CONTINUES TO RISE:

Fort Wayne 56.7% (down from 74.4%) Allen County: 7.5% (up from 3.6%) DeKalb, Whitley, Noble: 0.7% (up from

0%) Indianapolis: 3.7% (up from 2.3%) Balance of the U.S.: 31.4% (up from

19.8%)

CITY ANNOUNCES NEW HOUSING PROJECT

How Fast Will the Target Households Rent or

Buy New Housing in Downtown Fort Wayne? Rental Units: 10 to 12 percent capture rate For-Sale Units: 5 to 8 percent capture rate

Annual Capture of Market Potential: 205 to 272 Market-Rate Units per Year

statement. "We're committed to meeting the high demand for down-town housing options. The city of Fort Wayne is moving in the right direction as we invest in the future and enhance economic and quality of life opportunities."

The total project cost is an estimat-ed $27 million. Private investment will comprise $20 million of the to-tal cost, while the city has com-mitted $7 million in public funds, which will come from existing tax increment financing funds and a tax phase-in. No property taxes will be used to fund the city's portion of the project.

FORT WAYNE (JG D Gong)— A new apartment complex in downtown Fort Wayne is expected to break ground in the spring of 2015.

Known as Cityscape Flats, the project — located across from Parkview Field on a plot of land bordered by Ewing Street, Fairfield Avenue, West Jefferson Boulevard and Bracken-ridge Street — will feature apart-ments, row houses, a parking garage, and streetscape improvements.

"I continue to be encouraged by the unprecedented growth and develop-ment taking place in the heart of our city," Mayor Tom Henry said in a

Page 9 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

Thomas

CITY ANNOUNCES

RIVERFRONT PROJECT

Group principal. “We heard time and again from residents that they most wanted to see a prom-enade that would allow for walk-ing, shopping and dining. This promenade would include terrac-ing and a variety of levels de-signed to withstand different water levels and conditions.”

In addition to detailed prome-nade plans, SWA Group provided final recommendations for Law-ton, Guldlin and Bloomingdale parks, as well as the area sur-rounding the confluence. High-lights include: Locating Headwaters Junction, a rail-themed attraction and home to the historic 765 steam locomo-tive, on the north side of the St. Marys to the east of Wells Street.

Expanding Lawton Park into an active adventure area for all ages.

FORT WAYNE - The City’s river-front consultant, SWA Group, recommended building a water-front promenade as the first phase of enhancements to Fort Wayne’s downtown riverfront.

The recommendations came at the Grand Wayne Center during the Big Reveal, which is the final public meeting of the riverfront study process. SWA Group provid-ed detailed renderings of what the promenade could look like. The first sections of promenade could extend along both the south and north banks of the St. Marys River beginning at the His-toric Wells Street Bridge and stretching east toward Harrison Street.

“The public has been very in-volved in this planning process,” said Kinder Baumgardner, SWA

Page 10 GFW INC DOWNTOWN

Thomas

Possibilities include a sandy area with water features, a rock climbing wall, improved skate park and a boat dock. A lake-like area could be created by pull-ing back the shoreline near Lawton.

Building pedestrian bridges over the confluence of the three rivers. The bridges would have multi-colored lights and would create what SWA Group calls a “sphere of confluence.” Improving the boat launch, restoring natural habitat and building a new Urban Ecology Center in the Blooming-dale and Guldlin parks area.

“I’m encouraged about the possibilities for our riverfront,” said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry. “The recommenda-tions will serve as a road map for cre-ating a dynamic downtown riverfront that attracts residents, visitors and pri-

vate investment. We’ll continue to build on the momen-tum we’re experi-encing in our City as we invest in the fu-ture.” City leaders tonight emphasized that development along the rivers will take time. Potential projects will be done in phases over decades. Public-private partnerships will need to be formed for potential initiatives to get started and be suc-cessful. SWA Group will provide a final report to the City in the next several weeks and staff from all City divisions will

review the report and develop ways to begin implementation. “We’ll be creating action steps in three areas: programming, mainte-nance and development,” said Pam Holocher, the City’s Planning & Policy director. “One of the first things we

can do is open up views of the downtown riverfront by removing invasive plant species, dead trees, debris and trash. We can also begin by pruning trees and shrubs and working to control erosion.” SWA Group was hired in November 2013 to complete the riverfront study, which is the first comprehen-sive look at enhancing the city’s riv-

ers. Citizens wanting to stay connected to the Riverfront Fort Wayne initiative should visit www.RiverfrontFW.org and sign up for the elec-tronic newsletter.

LOCAL RESTAURANT ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR RIVERFRONT EXPANSION

The Deck sits on the St. Mary’s Riverfront, behind Don Hall’s Old Gas House. Owner Ben Hall said his willingness to expand on the river-front may be a catalyst for future development. “We’ve been in this location since the late 50s we’ve seen the glory days of downtown,” said Hall. “Downtown resurgence

over the past half a dozen years has been remarkable.” The proposed expansion would add seats for an additional 60 to 70 diners and add a lobby where guests can wait for a table. The Deck currently seats about 85 in the dining area. The Halls hope to break ground by spring.

WINTER 2015 DOWNTOWN Page 12

SPRING 2015 DOWNTOWN

BY THE NUMBERS

City of Fort Wayne, Citizens Square

1,814

Allen County Government, Rousseau

1,605

Lincoln Financial 1,970

Saint Joseph Hospital 1,087

Ash Brokerage (est 2017) 350

Fort Wayne City Schools 4,230

Indiana-Michigan Power 451

Fort Wayne Newspapers 404

Top Downtown Employers

Allen County Population, (2013 est.)

363,014

Population change (Indiana’s = 1.3%)

2.2%

Fort Wayne Population (2013 est.)

256,496

Fort Wayne Metro Popula-tion (2014)

416,851

Unemployment Rate (August-2014)

4.9%

Downtown Employment (2011)

16,309

Census Data

Page 13

CONTACT:

Kirk Moriarty Director Downtown Business Development

260-203-5770

kmoriarty@GreaterFortWayneInc.com

GreaterFortWayneInc.com