St. Joe expanding office building
Link
St. Joseph to construct $7 million office building downtown
Plans to combine with existing offices for 65,000-square-foot site
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/17066995.htm
From the article:
"“St. Joseph Hospital is proud to play a vital role in the continued reinvestment in downtown Fort Wayne and we look forward to a successful partnership with the Medical Education Program,” Kirk Ray, chief executive officer of St. Joseph Hospital, said in a news release. “This commitment allows both St. Joe and Fort Wayne Med Ed to continue to serve the communities in and around the heart of the city long into the future.”"
St. Joseph Hospital planning $7M expansion
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/17068160.htm
From the article:
"Construction on the new building is expected to begin by the end of May, St. Joe officials said. Completion is expected in March 2008"
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Downtown - STAT!
Posted by scott spaulding at 4/12/2007 04:55:00 PM
Labels: City Development, Downtown development
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13 comments:
sweet
just make sure it includes a parking GARAGE, not a parking LOT!!
I saw this article a couple hours ago, and this is definately exciting. Thats another $7 million of private investment. And along with what Club Sodas putting into their building, and with whats associated with Harrison Square on the private side, thats quite a bit more than the $2 million we've seen in the past couple of years. This is great news.
try the past 10 years, Nick. Everyone should read this article from the Indy star. Does anyone see Ft. Wayne doing this kind of stuff in the future? If we don't, we won't be competitive for high paying jobs downtown!
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/BUSINESS/304120013
Oops that link didn't quite come out right. Just go to their homepage (indystar.com) and click on the first story that is in big type. It begins with "Indy lured firm..."
Great point, Joe. And I definately agree, interesting article. It'd be great to see things like that happen in Fort Wayne in the future. And with whats been happening lately, I'd say we're headed in that direction.
And yeah, the link works. Thanks for posting that!
We had a presentation Tuesday night at our West Central Board Meeting by representatives of St. Joe. They consider themselves good neighbors to our West Central District, so they wanted us to see the plans before the news release.
We were really impressed by the drawings and the plans. We were really excited that they did not plan on filling in the little courtyard and that a walkway will still exist through to Broadway.
This is truly an exciting time for Fort Wayne, yet I am amazed at the number of negative comments and the opposition to almost any plan that is presented.
Charlotte - I am a member of one of the churches in West Central - Please be advised that 90% of the negative comments and opposition to the Harrison Square project are objections to the unnecessary replacement of our existing Memorial Stadium. I think that it's great that at least one of our Fort Wayne hospitals plans to remain downtown. I hope that your group gets behind the proposal to reroute Jefferson and Washington so that the heavy truck traffic will not go through the center of West Central (see Dan Carmody's layout showing this) John K.
It wasn't long ago that there was a debate on Mr. Sylvester's blog regarding Parkview heading north.
This just shows that while Parkview is MOVING (not leaving)much of its main functions out north where the area has gradually began to boom, downtown is not being deserted. In the end, everyone is benefiting. We have major hospitals located throughout the entire Ft Wayne community.....two of which are downtown. Lutheran provides the southern portion of the city and Parkview North covers the north.
This is great news for everyone, and the private market has done its job......prett funny comment coming from a Harrison Square supporter huh? I find it odd that Mr. Sylvester is against Parkview moving north considering it was the private market's doing.
Adam W
Adam W.
I think St Joe expanding Downtown is great.
Even though I am against Harrison Square as proposed; I have to admit that there has been some exciting news regarding new development. It seems to me like some momentum may be building and that some investment is occurring. I am not sure if it is due to the Harrison Square buzz or not; however, I think that the Harrison Square discussion has most likely played a positive role.
I am definately against Parkview moving north. I think Parkview should have stayed where it was. We currently have two competing hospitals facing each other across Dupont road.
From a City planning standpoint Parkview moving north is a disaster for Fort Wayne.
Adam do you have any idea how many medical offices are going to move north from their current location on State street? It will be 80% of the current offices or more in the next few years. In fact, you should drive up north and look at Diebold Road. New medical offices are going to start sprouting on Diebold Road like weeds.
Let me clarify one thing Adam, Parkview is not a private for-profit company.
Parkview is a not-for-profit company and receives a lot of government money and does not pay any property taxes at all.
I think Fort Wayne should have done everything they could to keep Parkview from moving north.
I 100% cannot understand why ANY Harrison Square or Downtown supporter can possibly think that Parkview moving north is a good thing for Downtown.
Who agrees with Adam that Parkview moving north is good for Fort Wayne and good for Downtown development?
Adam let me make this clear, I am in favor of Downtown development. The only way that we can effectively in-fill and develop downtown is to stop developing along the edges of Fort Wayne.
Fort Wayne needs to reign in developers and needs to come up with a real plan if Fort Wayne wants to develop downtown.
Mike Sylvester
Charlotte, regarding the last paragraph in your message...Welcome to Fort Wayne. Everytime ANYTHING is ever presented that might cost money, there is a knee jerk reaction from our overly conservative city.
Mike,
I must admit that I figured you would include the argument about Parkview receiving a lot of government money and not-for-profit. It is a good point that I was aware of, but I still consider it a business decision in a market.
And while I would never say that Parkview moving north is GOOD for downtown, I will say that it is just another reason for why Harrison Square would be good for the inner city.
As a matter of fact Mike, I live about 10 seconds from Diebold....no exaggeration. We ourselves moved out north about 4 years ago. Why? For the very same reasons that many businesses have been moving out north. This is my justification for downtown development (Harrison Square). Something needs to be done ASAP to save our downtown.
It is interesting how we have such similar beliefs yet are so far off on how we reach our conclusions.
Oh, and as for the development, I too have noticed that lately downtown, and no one really knows whether or not it is due to the buzz. However, I can tell you that I spoke to the owner of one restaurant downtown that said the restaurant was purposely opened quickly with hopes of values skyrocketing after Harrison Square.
Adam W
Adam
Speaking as much as a former restaurant owner than as a downtown development specialist I would like to strongly discouarge any business decision based upon speculation that something that someone else is going to do will make my business or real estate value skyrocket.
The retail and restaurant industries are very competitive and downtown needs to increase its market share in these sectors or it will continue to wither.
Harrison Square can be very useful in changing perceptions and inspire competent operators to consider downtown as a site for their investment. (Not a small achievement by the way)
But in the end, small businesses have to stand on their own two legs to succeed.
Large projects can help create a better framework for investment, business associations like the DID can help in a variety of smaller ways. Things like building better cross-promotions (dining cards), business expert seminars, (Rick Segel), marketing and design assistance, (in-house staff), and better programming (Art Crawl, Summer event series).
But in the end the day to day hiring, purchasing, pricing, training, staffing, cleaning, maintaining, promoting, and customer serving is up to the individual merchant.
And that is where success or failure happens.
Dan Carmody
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