Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Metro Building Latest Downtown Development

Planners investing in Metro Building
Link (JG)

"Hanning & Bean Enterprises Inc. has big plans for the Metro Building downtown, which it bought from Metro Associates for an undisclosed amount Feb. 1.

Bill Bean, a partner at Hanning & Bean, said he plans to renovate the façade of the eight-story building at 202 W. Berry St. and make it a prominent downtown landmark.

“We want it to be part of the dynamic improvements going on all over downtown,” Bean said."

[...]

"“We’re seeing a lot more interest (downtown) than we did three years ago,” Bean said.

Steve Zacher, president of The Zacher Co., a Fort Wayne-based real estate company, said he, too, has seen an increased interest in downtown office space recently.

“The market has moved to the point where it’s more affordable to be a tenant downtown than in the suburbs, even when you factor in the cost of parking,” Zacher said."

6 comments:

Jeff Pruitt said...

Good to hear they might do something with that building. As I walk by it everyday all I can say is "Damn that's an ugly building"

RMike said...

That facade material,like on the Metro, is so OVERUSED these days. Someone also recently ruined a building on Calhoun with that stuff, I believe.

tim said...

Is it too late for these folks to get ahold of the former Holiday Inn downtown? The colors they painted the outside of the place are hideous! If there isn't a law about what color you can or cannot paint a building, there ought to be! What are people thinking?!

RMike said...

The only possible explanation is that the owner is a Washington Redskins fan.

Andy said...

Based on the paint scheme for the old Holdiay Inn downtown, it could also be confused for being the headquarters for McDonalds.

Why wasn't this paint scheme in effect when the Kroc Foundation was looking at investing millions in our city a few years back ? One drive past this red and yellow behemoth would have sealed the deal for the Kroc executives to choose the Fort for their world-wide headquarters.

Scott Bryson said...

I like the new paint scheme of the former Holiday Inn. Every building is either gray, black or brown. This building brings a nice bright color to the area. I do agree it stands out, maybe too much, for the area. But it would look better if it wasn't surrounded by parking lot and one story buildings.