Sunday, February 18, 2007

Saga of Harrison Square-Just Believe

Third, the emergence of Jefferson Pointe as a regional shopping, dining, and to some degree entertainment destination will impact downtown’s ability to capture additional uses. For downtown to compete and to attract the types of uses necessary to thrive as an exciting and vibrant district, it must rely on a healthy balance from not only the resident population, but also from the employment base and its increasing visitor base.

The most viable short-term development opportunities would include a new downtown hotel, new restaurants, and new market rate rental apartments. With the increased critical mass generated by hotel patrons, convention center visitors, and new residents, a limited amount of supplemental retail uses
can likely be supported, as well as additional nightclubs and bars. From a location perspective, the hotel would need to be adjacent to, and ideally physically connected, to the expanded Grand Wayne Center.

Future restaurants targeting an evening crowd would be better suited in close proximity to the hotel and convention center, near the more heavily traveled Jefferson and Washington Boulevard corridors.Conversely, additional bars and nightclubs would be better served locating in the Landing District, where a strong contingency of evening entertainment facilities already exists.
New housing in the downtown area is greatly needed to help support additional uses.


Two additional roles the public sector can play in stimulating new development are the continuedmarketing and promotional efforts for downtown, and traditional economic development activities whichhelp to attract and retain businesses in the downtown area. There has been a discussion of consolidating county-wide governmental offices downtown, which would help bring more people into the downtown area. Any efforts which bring in additional people downtown, whether as employees, residents, or visitors, will greatly increase the marketability and ultimately the success of retail and entertainment related uses.

The City and County are currently examining the consolidation of government related operations and facilities. Representatives from the City of Fort Wayne have also confirmed an increased effort to work with state and federal government branches as well to consolidate all governmental facilities downtown to the fullest extent possible. Given the weakened office market, any efforts made to bring additionalworkers into downtown will have a tremendous impact on downtown’s overall vitality.


Given these factors, the Harrison Street corridor is unlikely to emerge as a retail destination point. As evidenced in the retail spending tables, demand projections for many personal products, household products, and services are not sufficiently strong to support retail development as a primary use along Harrison Street. The close proximity of two major regional shopping venues, Jefferson Pointe and Glenbrook Square, present barriers for new retail uses. Finally, many new retail uses will tend to conglomerate around well-established retail corridors with high traffic volumes. The ability for downtown to compete with nearby established retail destinations will be extremely difficult. Additional factors,including land costs, signage, and parking will adversely impact the ability to attract major retail uses into downtown. Thus, new retail uses will likely be only supporting retail uses and not destination retailers.


Table 30 on the following pages provides a breakdown showing anticipated condominium demand. The methodology used here is similar to what was performed for apartments. The targeted price range for new downtown housing was forecasted to be $175,000 to $250,000. This range was determined based on two primary factors: First, existing trends in the condominium market indicate very little demand for lower priced housing, given the amount of alternatives available at this price point; and second, with the inherent risks associated with this type of development, a developer/owner will need to generate higher returns which can only be done through a higher sales price.


So who buying at midtown crossing downtown? From the Harrison Square Study, 2003

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