BY LINDA LIPP, Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
lindal@fwbusiness.com
Most people who work in downtown Fort Wayne have to hop in their cars to go home.
Lona and Jim Antil walked 22 steps upstairs to the apartment above their business.
The Antils have lived downtown more than 20 years, and decided to stay even after they sold their store last year.
"I like to walk. I like to get up early and see what's happening," Lona Antil said. "Downtown is my neighborhood. It's everybody's neighborhood."
Lona Antil grew up in the country, so the idea of living in the heart of the city intrigued her when she and her husband bought a business in Fort Wayne.
"My wife was thrilled to find there already was a nice apartment upstairs," her husband recalled.
Mike Brita always lived on the outskirts of the city or in the suburbs, but he moved downtown to the Three Rivers Apartments a month ago after he sold his home. Just call it homework for the Martin Goldstine Knapke residential real-estate specialist, who will be selling the new condo units to be built at Harrison Square.
"I wanted to see what (downtown) was all about," Brita said.
Although the baseball stadium won't open until 2009, the first phase of the condos - 62 units on three floors above a first-floor retail complex - should be finished and ready to occupy by fall/winter of 2008.
"We want people in the units, on their balconies, watching that first pitch in the spring of '09," Brita said.
Interest in the one- and two-bedroom condos, which will range from about 800 square feet to 1,300 square feet in size, is already high - even though the prices of the units still have not been determined.
"I've already got 160 people I have to call back," Brita said Sept. 17.
Interest also seems to be increasing in the 104 condominium units at Midtowne Crossing, a six-building complex that wraps around Calhoun Street from Wayne Street to Washington Boulevard.
"We've just had a boom in our sales," said property manager Diane Enterline.
In a typical year, six or eight Midtowne residential units might change hands. In the last 13 months, with talk of Harrison Square and downtown redevelopment intensifying, 35 of the units have been sold - some more than once, Enterline said.
About half of the Midtowne units are owner-occupied, and half are investor-owned and rented out. Completed in 1990, the residential units sit above first-floor offices and retail and have underground parking.
Residents choose the complex for various reasons.
"I think that it's different for every person, although it used to be, when we opened, it was location. There were a lot more jobs downtown," Enterline said. "Now, relatively few people are still able to walk to work."
Occupancy levels at Three Rivers, Fort Wayne's only luxury high-rise apartment complex, are up to about 95 to 96 percent, said senior property manager Jammie Bandor. Interest appears to be growing, and there are waiting lists for some apartment sizes and floor plans.
"With the downtown improvements coming, I think people are coming back to the idea of living downtown," Bandor said.
There are 355 apartments in Three Rivers' two towers, ranging from 500-square-foot studios to 1,725-square-foot, three-bedroom units. A single penthouse, currently occupied, measures 3,000 square feet - larger than many substantial suburban homes.
Monthly rents at the 40-year-old complex, which has been owned and managed by Framingham, Mass.-based VTT Properties since May 2006, range from $395 to $2,000.
The stellar views of downtown on one side and the river on the other set Three Rivers apart, Bandor said. The roomy floor plans make it an easier transition for homeowners who want to simplify their lifestyle, she added.
Maintenance and security are available around the clock, and the complex also has a pool, two fitness centers, a sauna and a party room. Because Kroger closed its store at State Boulevard and Spy Run Avenue this summer, Three Rivers' management is looking at getting a convenience store to occupy one of the first-floor commercial spaces in the complex.
Downtown Fort Wayne also has some older, smaller apartment buildings for those who prefer digs with a historical flair. One of those is Washington Manor, an 18-unit, three-story, red brick building that dates from the 1920s.
Brian Schaper, president of building owner Metro Real Estate, said the challenge with an older building is to incorporate modern amenities without destroying its historic charm.
"If you over-renovate, you lose some of the features people want," Schaper said.
With rents that start at $425, including everything but electric, the affordability of Washington Manor is an important factor for its young professional and student tenants. The building's location at Washington Boulevard and Fulton Street also is a big selling point.
"Either they work nearby or they choose the experience of living downtown," Schaper said.
Schaper lives in an old single-family home in a neighborhood close to downtown, and his company specializes in sales and rental properties in the central part of the city. The increase in the number of downtown restaurants - fast food and otherwise - has upped the convenience factor of urban life, and Jefferson Pointe is just a few minutes away by car, Schaper noted.
Although she would like to see more downtown shops and maybe a grocery or convenience store, Lona Antil has never had a problem finding someplace to go downtown.
Then again, she doesn't mind a little walk between attractions.
"I think if we look around, we've got everything, although it seems to be further apart than the non-walking people would like," she said. "I love the library and the Embassy (Theatre) and the community center and the courthouse. And there's even a hospital. I've got it all."