Fort Wayne mayor bullish on North River property plans
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The mayor of Fort Wayne says she wants the North River property to be a prime destination for families both in and out of the city.
In an extended interview with our partners at WPTA-TV this week, Sharon Tucker said the city has received more than a dozen proposals from developers for potential projects in addition to the city’s own plan for the North River Fieldhouse youth sports complex to be built on the site.
The property—which encompasses nearly 30 acres of city-owned land north of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge and bordered by Clinton, Harrison, and Fourth Streets—was formerly the site of an Omnisource metal recycling plant and has been vacant for decades.
Tucker spoke about the city’s goals for the North River property with WPTA-TV.
In February, the city announced plans for the North River Fieldhouse, which would be about 160,000 square feet and come with a cost of approximately $50-$60 million.
A timeline for construction on the fieldhouse has not been detailed, though the city previously targeted groundbreaking for 2027. Tucker said the city is working on getting funding dollars in order and going over the 18 responses to a Request for Qualifications from developers.
“We’re going to be spending the next couple of days, maybe even weeks, going over the submissions that were given to us to determine who qualifies and hits all of the characteristics and thresholds that we’re looking for, and who can help us bring the biggest bang for the buck to the community,” she said.
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Last month, the city received an unsolicited offer from Noblesville-based Cumberland Development LLC, a firm led by Sweetwater Sound founder Surack and Ambassador Steel founder Daryle Doden, offered to buy the North River property for $12 million and turn it into a mixed-use development, according to WPTA.
That offer was rejected by the city, which noted in a statement that the property is not for sale.
Tucker said she found out about the officer moments before the public did, and there were no conversations with the firm ahead of time. She said the offer did not include specific plans for the site, including financing.
“It’s not that the city is saying, ‘No, we don’t want partners.’ It’s that the city is saying we need to be responsible for taxpayers, resources and dollars and property, which would be the land, and in order for us to convey those properties or consider an idea, we should have all of the details that go along with that.”
Tucker noted that the city would consider selling the land to a developer if they had a plan in place that would not require any tax resources from the city such as an abatement, TIF district or professional sports district.
The mayor said the city wants to turn the property into a space that can not only give residents a place to enjoy time with their kids or watching sports.
“We want our children with access and adaptive sports to be able to come in and participate and play in sports and compete with each other and just have great fun,” she said. “We also then want to see individuals from outside of our community come down and participate in the activities that will be going there. Because what we do know is that that revenue that comes from outside of our city then comes into our community, it stays and cycles itself over in the multiple ways.”
You can watch the full extended interview from WPTA by clicking here.