An entertainment complex can use a $1 million loan from the Legacy Fund to fill most of its funding gap now that it has gotten Fort Wayne City Council’s approval.
The Fairfield will transform a 125-year-old building at the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Hendricks Street into a multi-use entertainment center with different activities on each floor.
Owners Nathan Newport and David Beer initially requested nearly $2.7 million through the Legacy Joint Funding Committee, a proposal that didn’t pass the concept letter stage in May. The Legacy Fund is from the lease and sale of Fort Wayne’s old power utility and is used for projects considered transformational.
Councilwoman Michelle Chambers, D-at large, sponsored the proposal so it could move go before City Council as a $2 million grant request. The resolution was then unanimously changed to a $1 million loan request after the amendment was proposed Tuesday by Councilman Nathan Hartman, R-3rd.
Newport and Beer walked council members through the process, sharing photos of the building taken when they first purchased it. A wall collapsed the day after the purchase, and photos showed temporary support beams holding up the roof, Beer said.
The development is now turning into a venue that can host small and large events and be a home to recreational entertainment that can continue year-round. The Fairfield is planned to have large events on the third floor and small events on a lower level.
Virtual golf is set for the second floor, and duckpin bowling will be on the first. Those floors will also offer food and drinks.
The complex, expected to open later this year, is designed to provide the community with connectivity from Electric Works to downtown and to spur local economic development.
“Just like Electric Works was for us, we believe we will be a catalyst for other development,” Newport said. “I can promise you all this, had it not been for Electric Works, we would have never, ever, ever done our project.”
The development will also create 75 to 85 jobs, Newport said.
The project is expected to cost $10.35 million, and the developers currently have $9.24 million. Most of the funding was from private sources, except for about $115,000 from a County Economic Development Income Tax grant and about $40,000 from a Fort Wayne Commercial Facade grant. The Legacy Fund loan would cover most of its $1.11 million funding gap.
Chambers said the development will help meet a need for year-round recreation and help to reduce blight. Along with renovating the condemned building, Newport and Beer bought some of the surrounding property with dilapidated buildings and demolished them. That space will provide 110 free parking spaces.
“In supporting The Fairfield, we are investing not just in a building but in our people, our neighborhood and the future of Fort Wayne,” Chambers said, adding it will create a lasting legacy for future generations.
Councilwoman Rohli Booker, D-6th, said the developers’ excitement is contagious but that she couldn’t support the Legacy loan because the project, while extraordinary, doesn’t seem to have the same level of impact as others.
She was also concerned about public dollars going to a project not always open to the public.
Virtual golf will be available only to members until 4 p.m. each weekday.
Councilman Paul Ensley, R-1st, asked what would happen if the loan wasn’t approved. Newport said they could open the second and third floors but would have to wait on the two lower levels.
Council members voted to approve the project 7-2 with Booker and Ensley in opposition. As he voted no, Ensley said it seemed like The Fairfield could get off the ground without public dollars.