Planners get Landing, riverfront proposals
By Rosa Salter Rodriguez | The Journal Gazette
The first sign that The Landing revitalization project in downtown Fort Wayne is materializing landed on city planners' desks this week – along with the first stirrings of riverfront development.
Though both proposals are short on details, planners received applications for a new building at 111 and 125 W. Columbia St., on The Landing, and for construction of the riverfront's previously announced Compass Pavilion at 202 W. Superior St.
The Landing building – formerly the site of the historic Rosemarie Hotel – is described as a 68-foot-high commercial/residential building with 24 units in an unspecified number of stories.
Plans show a sidewalk-level patio off the northwest corner. No uses or tenants are given for the structure, which would have an 8,425-square-foot footprint.
An existing building at the site would be torn down, and the proposed replacement building would be somewhat larger, according to the application's plans.
The riverfront building has space for restrooms and an open area for performances. Design plans show step-like seating areas and children's playground space with “urban swings” and a fire pit.
The developer, listed as the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department, is seeking a variance from development standards to extend setbacks on the Compass building's north, south and east sides by distances of 65, 115 and 270 feet respectively.
The 12,870-square-foot building is described as “the focal point of the overall riverfront project” in documents with the application.
The Landing's initial plans called for a mix of 72 units of residential space, retail stores, restaurants, entertainment sites and offices costing $35.7 million along Columbia Street. This week's application was filed by MKM Architecture & Design of Fort Wayne on behalf of property owner, the Fort Wayne Downtown Development Trust Inc., whose president is Mac Parker.
The site's historic hotel was burned at an arsonist's hand in 1975.
It was one of a series of hotels built there, at the center of a business district grown up to serve the nearby Wabash and Erie Canal throughout the 19th century.
The Model Group of Cincinnati is developer of the entire Landing project, which would result in 22 commercial spaces in as many as three new or rehabbed buildings in addition to residential space.
Building proposals will require approval of exterior designs by the Fort Wayne Historic Preservation Commission because Columbia Street is a local historic district and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mosaic Building Solutions of Fort Wayne recently filed a building permit for $300,000 to create Nawa, an Asian fusion-style restaurant at 126 W. Columbia St. Mosaic President Jake Fetters said the restaurant was not formally part of The Landing project.
The restaurant's name means “New Beginnings” in Thai and has a Facebook page, he said.
