Riverfront pavilion plans get update

By Rosa Salter Rodriguez | The Journal Gazette

Plans for the Compass Pavilion proposed for the first phase of riverfront development still has its soaring roof line but has diminished the size of the roof's open-air panels.

Plans submitted for approval at a public hearing on the project before the Fort Wayne Plan Commission at 6 p.m. Aug. 14 show a few changes from architect's renderings shown to the public earlier this year.

Project manager Rachel Vedder of Design Collaborative said Tuesday that although renderings may look different, the design for the pavilion and the roof size and shape remain essentially the same.

But the open-air areas of the roof became smaller to give the parks department the option to cover them at a later date to protect patio areas from rain, she said.

The coverings would likely be a clear skylight-like material, she said. One version of the project was bid to include the coverings, but the selected design omitted them for the time being, Vedder said. 

The pavilion's updated plans also include an additional entrance for vendors and a change in materials for a wave-like wall design feature, Vedder said.

Now, native limestone is being be used for the walls, which resulted in the waves being expressed “in the veining pattern of the limestone,” she said. The patterns will be smaller and less visually dramatic but the cost also will be less, she said. 

Also having its public hearing Aug. 14 is the primary development plan for The Landing, a residential/commercial project at 111 and 125 W. Columbia St., and three other commercial projects. The Landing proposal consists of an 8,425-square-foot multistory building listed as a first-floor restaurant with 24 residential units on upper floors and 19 parking spaces on a nearly half-acre lot.

The applicant is MKM Architecture & Design of Fort Wayne. The owner is the Downtown Development Trust, and the developer is Model Group of Cincinnati.

The meeting also will include public hearings on plans for a drug treatment center in a former high-rise office building at 2827 Rupp Drive. The 4.4-acre property requires rezoning from multifamily residential to professional offices and personal services.

The site had previously been set for conversion to senior housing but plans changed, according to developers. The applicant is now Park Center, which plans to work with the Allen County court system.

Some neighbors have written planners indicating opposition to the new plans.

Also to be heard: plans for a rezoning from single-family residential to general industrial for 9.57 acres in the 4700 block of Goshen Road to allow a truck terminal with dispatching, office space and truck-washing bays. The applicant is Indian River Transport Co. of Winter Haven, Florida.

And a proposal for converting the former Kmart site at 7530 S. Anthony Blvd. to a U-Haul truck and trailer business is on the agenda. Rezoning from shopping center to general commercial is sought for the project, which was deferred from the commission's July meeting when no representative from the applicant, AMERICO Real Estate Co. of Phoenix was present.

Hearings take place in Room 35 of Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St.