On Monday, the Fort Wayne Community Schools’ board of trustees approved a 10-year-lease on Building 31 in the Electric Works complex.
The vote paves the way for the development of a new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, or STEAM, high school.
The WWII-era building will give FWCS about 25,000 square feet to develop hands-on, project-based learning in the mixed-use development southwest of downtown Fort Wayne.
According to a release, the new school will be one of only a handful around the country focused on STEAM, and one that places students in an environment alongside entrepreneurs and mentors.
The school’s innovative design will forgo the traditional classroom setting, instead featuring ample collaborative and group-study spaces, as well as dedicated, high-tech lab studios for programs focused on entrepreneurship / business, animation / computer technology, agriculture technology, and digital music, according to the release.
A local public-private development project of the historic General Electric plant on Broadway, Electric Works has a price tag of nearly $250 million.
Earlier this month, the National Park Service approved the redevelopment and rehabilitation plan for the project’s west campus. This unlocks a number of tax cuts key to the project’s financing.
