$42M Skyline Tower to Officially Open

(Image courtesy of the city of Fort Wayne)

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City and state leaders will join developers Thursday to officially cut the ribbon on the $42 million Skyline Tower in the heart of downtown Fort Wayne. The 12-story, mixed-use tower features more than 120 apartment units, a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and the regional headquarters of First Merchants Corp. (Nasdaq: FRME).

Construction on the tower began in 2016. It’s part of the overall development that includes the Ash Skyline Plaza and Skyline Garage, which both opened earlier that year. The project attracted $2.8 million in Regional Cities funding. At the time, Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership Chief Executive Officer John Sampson called the tower "exactly the kind of project for which the Regional Cities Initiative is designed."

Skyline Tower features 123 apartment units, and the city says about 60 percent of those apartments are already pre-leased. The first floor is home to a $6 million Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse location, with room for 280 guests. Muncie-based First Merchants occupies the entire second floor. When the bank announced the location earlier this year, CEO Mike Rechin said it would help the bank deal directly with customers in an area where it has 16 locations. The tower also features 30,000 square feet of commercial space.

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry will join Sampson as well as representatives from the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Greater Fort Wayne Inc. and Great Lakes Capital for Thursday’s ribbon cutting.