Downtown Fort Wayne Development

[Citylink]

What you think?



Summit City Grand Resort and Casino Holdings Corporation is the publicly traded (OTC:EXTO) parent company of the Summit City Resort and Water Park.

Summit City Grand Resort and Casino Holdings Corporation Moves Ahead with Plans for Adding to the Revitalization of Downtown Fort Wayne.

After an extensive and thorough study into the industrial performance of the Fort Wayne area, our research has yielded detailed analysis into the current market and economic conditions impacting the entertainment and resort industry of this area. Due to these findings, we at Summit City Grand Resort and Casino Holdings Corporation have determined it is in the best interest of the community and the company to go ahead with our plans to build a Resort Destination in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This will include a Water Park, IMAX theater, Resort Hotel, National Performing Art Center and retail space in downtown Fort Wayne.

With careful consideration from an analytical approach, our core team along with national and international consultants has developed a business model that has come full circle and represents the very best in resort entertainment. A comprehensive marketing study and numerous planning sessions have led to the refinement of this business model.We have determined how to maximize the benefit to the Fort Wayne community and will reveal with this model by the end of this year.

Our Mission is to provide the very best in quality family entertainment to our community and the surrounding area. Utilizing 20 years of entertainment business success, we will continue that tradition and provide the very best in lasting entertainment in the ever changing industry of entertainment and hospitality.

We would like to take a moment to address the issue of casino gaming. We have been approached with the prospect of developing casino gaming along with the downtown Resort Destination and we have declined to pursue casino gaming at this time. We strongly believe that this Resort development will be extremely successful without the casino gaming component.

It is up to our community to speak out if they want a casino in our city. There are many in our community that would like to see a casino, yet there others that oppose casino gaming in our city. If there is a public referendum, we will await the voting results and take appropriate actions at that time. If our community decides they would like to see a casino in our city, we will meet to determine if such is possible on our site, or if it should be looked at by another group.

Subsequently, we have issued a directive to stop all planning and development of a river boat casino and will revisit the issue should that need arise. We at Summit City Grand Resort and Casino Holdings Corporation do not see that a casino river boat is paramount to the success of the development. We are devoted to delivering quality and excellence in entertainment to our community and surrounding areas.

As a corporation we are committed and unified to our community and, as such, have decided to go public. This allows those in our community, along with us, to take ownership of the project by buying stock in Summit City Grand Resort and Casino Holdings Corporation. We do not rely on any tax dollars to support the development effort. However, we have been working with the City of Fort Wayne and including them in all development plans since its inception. We are working to achieve a mutually beneficial relationship with the City and strongly believe this to be the best way of conducting business for our community.

[ragerunner1]

Hope they can pull it off. This would be a great addition to downtown Fort Wayne. Make sure to post pics when the new design becomes available.

[GarfieldPark]

Sounds like a nice addition to downtown. One problem is the lack of visibility though for travelers going through this area. Most will stay out on the interstate as they are traveling through - so to bring attention of this "resort" to travelers - there will need to be a lot of good marketing. It seems like the water parks and "resorts" in the Wisconsin Dells area have the advantage that most of them are along the Interstate - so they are easy for the tens of thousands of daily travelers to see. I hope it works for Ft. Wayne. The national level performing arts center sounds like it would be a good way to pull people in from all around the tri-state area for big events.

[markjohnsonchi]

Please visit my post on another thread for more information...

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...405497&page=14

[markjohnsonchi]

New Downtown Fort Wayne development oriented blog http://downtownfw.wordpress.com/#

[Resident]

Originally Posted by GarfieldPark

Sounds like a nice addition to downtown. One problem is the lack of visibility though for travelers going through this area. Most will stay out on the interstate as they are traveling through - so to bring attention of this "resort" to travelers - there will need to be a lot of good marketing. It seems like the water parks and "resorts" in the Wisconsin Dells area have the advantage that most of them are along the Interstate - so they are easy for the tens of thousands of daily travelers to see. I hope it works for Ft. Wayne. The national level performing arts center sounds like it would be a good way to pull people in from all around the tri-state area for big events.

I agree, %100

[GarfieldPark]

Of course the original post about this "resort" project was posted in 2009 and the developers said they would provide more details of the plans by the "end of this year" (2009). That was two years ago -- so it doesn't look like anything is happening with this.

[markjohnsonchi]

Newly Renovated MLK Jr Bridge


AWB Tower


AWB Condo & Office Lobby


View looking out Grand Wayne Center main entrance


New Citilink Transfer Center under construction

[araman0]

Good to see all the activity in Fort Wayne. This is the first time I've seen that bridge, which looks really nice.

Next the city needs to start improving the aesthetics the major arteries into downtown.

[markjohnsonchi]

arman0, it's funny you mention that as just yesterday the city made quite a large announcement regarding beautification. According to the city, "Front Door Fort Wayne" is a 10 year plan to improve (add architectural, cultural, and landscape design elements) I-69 & I-469 Interchanges within the city, as well as upgrade existing signage and infrastructure on main arteries and entryways such as ColiseumBlvd, Ardmore, Airport Expressway, Jefferson Blvd, Maysville, Lima, Clinton, etc... to higher design standards for traditional traffic, along with pedestrian and bicycles in mind. Most of the plan supports the addition of tree lined medians as well as new public transit shelters and landmark business signage and last but not least an abundance of public art.

All in all it was quite a big announcement. There seems to be quite an emphasis on downtown and FWA. You can see a portion of the cities plans HERE IN THIS PDF

Downtown Streetscaping & Street Parking



I-69 Interchanges


Downtown Roundabout Addition (Wells, Fairfield, Superior & Fairfield)


Downtown Elevated Rail Beautification


Swinney Park @ Jefferson Blvd Ped Bridge

Lima & Clinton Roundabout

[araman0]

That is a wonderful announcement. In my opinion, this is the single biggest thing that the city can do to improve it's image to both visitors and the locals.

I recently took my parents (who live in Warsaw) to visit downtown Fort Wayne for probably their first time ever. While they enjoyed their time once in downtown, on our drive through the NW side of the city to get to downtown they thought I was taking them through and to the ghetto. An improved arterial aesthetic will go a long way in attracting more visitors (and eventually residents and businesses) to the inner sections of the city.

[markjohnsonchi]

So according to the DTFW Blog it looks like there may be more residential units on the way. Though details have yet to surface, a company from Carmel, IN appears to be purchasing the building (which has multiple ground level retail tenants) to convert the upper floors into downtown lofts.
I sure hope his happens!

[GarfieldPark]

That would be great to see! Is that at Calhoun and Columbia by any chance? I wonder if they'll put that one missing window back -- on the third floor.

[Mudhen419]

i know this is Toledo news but its related to Fort Wayne...

http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/1...vers-wednesday

Ribbon cutting and special events Tuesday as US 24 opens for drivers Wednesday

[Mudhen419]

the last section of the US 24 upgrade is complete and will be open wednesday.. This is great for both NE Indiana and NW Ohio. Safer and quicker route to both cities. Next summer I'll take the trip on the new highway to visit your city! Cant wait to check out Parkview Field and the maumee river in your area.

[GarfieldPark]

Cool --- that new US 24 will be a great help for travel between those two areas. I remember driving on the former 24 many years ago and it had a lot of dangerous curves which were made even scarier due to the large number of trucks that used that roadway. With the improved 24 - the route from Detroit (and southern Canada beyond) to Toledo, Ft. Wayne and then linking into I-69 to Indianapolis and continuing southwestward will add to the transportation attractiveness of that area. While you're coming into Indiana to check out Ft. Wayne and the home of the Tin Caps, it might be fun to travel another two hours south to see if you could catch the MudHens playing the Indians in Indianapolis at Victory Field. The two teams played a pretty interesting and exciting game last night in Toledo with the Indians winning 4-3 - after the MudHens scored two runs in the bottom of the 9th and had runners on second and third with two outs (and the count 3 and 2) before the last batter ended up getting his third strike.

[ScraperDude]

I've only passed through Ft. Wayne but did see the skyline. I was quite impressed!

[Mudhen419]

my plan is to see all of the minor league parks within a couple hour radius of toledo.. Im a big fan of minor league baseball and love seeing the smaller parks.. its a lot cheaper then tryin to see the big league stadiums and obviously youre closer to the action.. Indy does have an awesome stadium from the pics i've seen.. and yes the old 24 was very dangerous and could take a long time to do the trip if ya got stuck behind a semi

[GarfieldPark]

Yes --- Ft. Wayne's Parkview stadium looks nice too. I need to get up there and see the new development that is happening surrounding it as well. Its been ten or so years since I've been in downtown Ft. Wayne - so I know there are a lot of new things to see.

[Mudhen419]

same for me... 10 yrs. but i was on a greyhound (we had a layover stop i fort wayne and we had to stay there for an hour or so.) i liked what i was able to see in my few block walk of the area and the rides in n out of town