Developers seek historic designation for GE site
By Rosa Salter Rodriguez | The Journal Gazette
Placing Fort Wayne's 31-acre General Electric campus just south of downtown on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the site's $300 million redevelopment is taking a step forward.
A draft of a National Register application has been received by the Fort Wayne Historic Preservation Commission, board members will learn at the group's meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
The meeting will take place in the Omni Room at Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St.
Don Orban, historic preservation planner, said the document from Heritage Consulting Group in Portland, Oregon, will be reviewed by the commission staff and a final document will have a public hearing, likely in August or September.
The application will need to be approved by the local commission and then sent to state historic preservation officials for review and approval before the application can be forwarded for federal action, he said.
Placement on the registry will allow lead developer Cross Street Partners of Baltimore and partners Greenstreet Ltd. of Indianapolis and Biggs Development of Decatur to be eligible for historic preservation tax credits. The credits can go to National Register or register-eligible projects.
ARCH, Fort Wayne's nonprofit historic architecture preservation group, has developed many national register applications and provided information for the GE application. However, the application was compiled by Heritage, with whom developers have worked before, Orban said.
The document will be made available to the public before the local public hearing, he said.
