The City of Fort Wayne and RTM Ventures jointly announced Thursday the acceptance of an economic development agreement for the proposed Electric Works project.
The EDA has been in the works for several months. With the agreement, the city says it will pursue approval of $62 million in local funding to Electric Works, “subject, however, to certain procedures and conditions.”
Among those conditions, the City will review and approve commitments to lease a minimum of 100,000 square feet, and 25 percent of the land must be from tenants outside of Fort Wayne. This part of the process is to be completed no later than December 31, 2018.
Developer Kevin Biggs described the condition as “a little unique.”
Mayor Tom Henry agrees the condition is somewhat different. He says Fort Wayne has “never had a project this large,” adding it’s an economic development component in line with RTM’s stated goals to attract businesses from outside of Fort Wayne.
“And that’s terribly important to us, to have new jobs brought in,” Henry said. “Moving jobs just around the community isn’t going to do that much. We need to create an environment to attract new businesses, new investors and new employees.”
The first step is to seek approval through the Redevelopment Commission, and that discussion is scheduled for Monday, September 10 at 4 p.m.
You can read the full Economic Development Agreement at the city’s website. You can also find a summary of the conditions and approval process and timeline.
