Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority awards $18 million in READI funding

READI program project presentations last week included:

Trine Fort Wayne – College of Health Professions

• $4 million: Trine Fort Wayne has outgrown its original space on Carew Street at the Parkview Hospital Randallia Campus and is looking to build adjacent to the Parkview Regional Medical Center outside Fort Wayne city limits. The nearly $47.18 million project will be a 4-story, 120,000-square-foot building to house programs in the university’s College of Health Professions. It will include a simulated patient care center and various degree programs, including Associate in Surgery Technology, Bachelor degrees in Emergency Medical Science and Respiratory Therapy, Master in Speech-Language Pathology and Doctorate degrees in Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Medical Science.

“These investments in northeast Indiana will attract and retain more people to a growing area of the state,” Vincent Ash, vice president of development at the Indiana Economic Development Corp., said in a news release to announce the READI award. “Investments in the areas of housing, education and the arts, as reflected in these projects, will ensure Indiana remains an attractive location to live and work and help boost prosperity across the region. Investments into these quality-of-life and quality-of-opportunity projects is the true essence of what the READI program was intended for.”

Trine announced the project in June.

“Trine University has been proud to call northeast Indiana home for more than 135 years, and we are grateful for this investment in and vote of confidence for Trine Fort Wayne from the Regional Development Authority,” said Earl D. Brooks II, Trine University president. “We are proud to work together with many individuals, organizations, companies and agencies to improve the economy and quality of life for this region.”

The Trine University Fort Wayne project has already received multimillion-dollar pledges from the Steel Dynamics, the Surack Family Foundation, the James Foundation and Trine alumnus and Board of Trustees member Larry Reiners and his wife, Judy, the university announced.

Cameron Education and Innovation Center

• $1.5 million: Cameron Memorial Community Hospital in Angola plans to build a $14.33 million health care training facility.

The project will help the hospital develop and build a center for health science programming in partnership with Trine. The center will provide a venue for students, nurses, first responders and community members to learn and engage in hands-on training in CPR, Stop the Bleed program presentations, healthy living classes, K-12 partnerships, with a simulation lab.

Lofts at Headwaters

• $5 million: Referred to by many in Fort Wayne as “the hole in the ground” because of its below-street-level status at Clinton and Superior streets, the project has been on hold after rising supply costs left developer Barrett & Stokely looking for more financing.

The nearly $98.67 million mixed-use project will feature downtown Fort Wayne housing, commercial and retail space.

The 6-story, mixed-use project will include 217 apartments,15 town homes, 12,000 square feet of retail space and 651-space parking garage.

Environmental remediation has taken place at the site, hence, the resulting 3-acre hole along the main artery from the north into downtown Fort Wayne.

Originally, Barrett & Stokely planned to do this project first, but when the developer for Promenade at the Riverfront, the mixed-use development adjacent to the new Promenade Park, fell through, the city persuaded the Indianapolis developer to take this project on first. In return, the city took care of the environmental remediation.

Arts Campus Fort Wayne

• $6 million: Designed by world-renowned architect Louis Kahn and built in 1973 based on a master Arts Campus plan commissioned in the 1960s, the Arts United Center on Main Street in Fort Wayne is in need of renovations to save the historic theater. The building serves as an anchor of the Arts Campus and is home to the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre.

The total project, estimated at nearly $30.24 million, will address electrical systems and lighting, mechanical and air handling systems, roofing, masonry, windows, accessibility, efficiency and function, safety for employees and volunteers, security for patrons and performers, modern stage technology and historic preservation.

The $6 million from the RDA unlocks $3 million each from of the city of Fort Wayne, Allen County government and the Capital Improvement Board, the latter of which oversees disbursement of the Allen County Supplemental Food & Beverage Tax.

“Without this restoration project, there is no viable path forward for the building,” according to Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne.

Live/Work DeKalb

• $1.5 million: Jason Sweitzer sold Tempus Technologies, a payment processing platform that he founded and ran in Auburn, to PNC a few years ago. He remains connected to Tempus and PNC, but used the proceeds of the sale to create the Sweitzer Family Office, which includes the Sweitzer Family Foundation.

The foundation is focused on DeKalb County and is looking at ways to end homelessness and poverty by addressing the root causes.

The Sweitzer Family Office plans to a $24.78 million project to create housing in Auburn.

Through Fortify Home LLC, the project involves renovating a former motel into 28 units of emergency housing connected to social services.

With Seven 15 Properties LLC, the project aims to create the next phase in transitional living — a live-work concept on a 10-acre undeveloped site with 100 housing units, 50 micro commercial suites.

Through READI, 17 regions across the state that represent all 92 counties are moving forward with projects and programs. Collectively, the state’s $500 million investment is expected to yield an additional $9.86 billion public, private, and nonprofit dollars invested (19.72:1 investment leverage ratio) in enhancing Indiana’s quality of life, quality of place and quality of opportunity.