Fort Wayne’s Electric Works lands top restoration award
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Indiana Landmarks has awarded the state’s top restoration prize to Ancora Partners LLC, the group behind the Electric Works mixed-use innovation district in downtown Fort Wayne.
The Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration is awarded annually “to the property owner who follows the highest standards of restoration in transforming a significant historic building, with positive impact on the neighborhood or community.”
Ancora Partners led the $286 million revitalization of the 12-acre former General Electric plant, which involved the retention of eight buildings constructed between 1907 and 1942.
Indiana Landmarks said since the project opened in 2023, more than 1,000 jobs have been brought to the site and hundreds of thousands of people have visited the businesses that have relocated there each year.
The project also led to Do it Best Corp. to relocate its corporate headquarters from New Haven to Electric Works.
“The extraordinary rehabilitation at Electric Works has not only revived one of the city’s most important industrial landmarks, it has also sparked revitalization in the surrounding neighborhood, where local property owners are making renewed investments in their homes and businesses,” Indiana Landmarks President Brad Ward said in a news release. “It’s exactly the kind of community impact we seek to honor with the Cook Cup.”
The Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration has been awarded each year since 2007. Last year’s recipient was 500 Main LLC, the group behind the $23 million revitalization of Hotel Elkhart.