Economic Development

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Promoting the development of places, whether rural, urban, regional or metropolitan, is a key priority of all tiers of government, business and communities. The old school concept of economic development has focused on growth and attracting industries through offerings of land and incentives. In the 21st Century economy, the view of economic development has broadened to focus on improving the local offering through quality of place investments, education, workforce development, small business development and more.

Project Highlights Below

PROJECT HIGHLIGHT:

Broadway Corridor Plan

The purpose of the Broadway Corridor Strategic Plan was to provide Business on Broadway, related neighborhood associations, City of Fort Wayne officials, and the community in general with a planning document to assist in making key decisions and establish priorities within certain defined boundaries of the Broadway corridor in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Through an interactive process with the City of Fort Wayne Community Development Division, Broadway corridor business and property owners, and community stakeholders, Sturtz Public Management facilitated the plan to provide a representation of the needs of the Corridor as well as the tools to build the capacity to promote economic development and an improved quality of life within its boundaries. In addition, by identifying goals, objectives and an action plan, stakeholders were enabled to foster the strategic investment of resources through coordination and leverage with community stakeholders and funding agencies.

A significant issue that arose during this study was the future of the GE campus. There was a large amount of support from surrounding neighborhoods, community members, and organizations, for rehabilitating the buildings for reuse. GE is considered to be a major identifier of near southwest Fort Wayne, and continued use of the buildings were considered to be a key piece toward attracting new businesses to the area. Suggested uses for the buildings included: incubator space for businesses/Department of Defense/entrepreneurs/artists, indoor farmers market, makerspace, spaces for exhibits, meetings, live/work areas), loft apartments and/or condominiums, space for food trucks/stall, a mid-sized conference center, community center, museum space, shops, storage, movie theater, restaurants, passenger rail depot, and sports complex. The action plan included advocating for the adaptive reuse of the property to local leadership. This study was a precursor to the current Fort Wayne Electric Works Project.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHT:

Northeast Indiana Fund

ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT & FUND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

The Northeast Indiana Fund (Fund) was established to sustain regional capacity building initiatives in support of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership. A visioning process was conducted to address the economic climate in Northeast Indiana that established the following pillars for focus: 21st Century Talent, Quality of Place, Infrastructure, Entrepreneurship and a Competitive Business Climate.

The Fund then enlisted Sturtz Public Management to complete a planning initiative to evaluate and develop a strategy for obtaining financial sustainability. The completed document included information on the history and culture of the Fund as well as an analysis of organizational needs and opportunities as determined from interviews with advisory committee and stakeholder members. Additionally, the Fund was benchmarked against other similar organizations. Recommendations were developed in regard to organizational structure and fund development issues along with an action plan for carrying out the recommendations.

Following the completion of the planning initiative, the Fund continued its contract with Sturtz for on-call services from 2010 to 2012 to assist with fund development which resulted in the raising of over $1.2 million through single-year and multi-year grants from local and regional foundations.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHT:

Summit City Entrepreneur

and Enterprise District

(SEED) DEVELOPMENT

“Rarely, will you find a company that is as strategically connected as Sturtz Public Management, but as important is the strategic understanding of the economic development landscape. Those seeking to develop Public/Private partnerships and projects need Sturtz Public Management.”

– Trois Hart, Executive Director, Summit City Entrepreneur and Enterprise District

The Fort Wayne Urban Enterprise Association (FWUEA) was created in 1984. The purpose of the FWUEA was to revitalize Fort Wayne’s industrial core. During the spring 2017 State of Indiana Legislative Session, legislation was passed into Indiana Code 5-28-15.5 to enable the Entrepreneur and Enterprise District Pilot Program within the cities of Fort Wayne and Lafayette. Sturtz Public Management was brought on to assist in the reorganization of the FWUEA into the Summit City Entrepreneur and Enterprise District.

The SEED District established a 6.9-mile boundary that included the original UEZ territory and was expanded to include the City’s urban corridors including N. Anthony, Broadway, S. Calhoun, S. Clinton, S. Coliseum, Fairfield, Goshen, W. Main, E. Washington, and Wells which have been identified to be important areas to foster entrepreneurial activities as the downtowns to Fort Wayne’s urban neighborhoods. Urban corridors have been cited in the Plan-it Allen Comprehensive Plan as areas to be supported for commercial infill investment.

The goals of the SEED were established to: enhance communication and connection between entrepreneurs, businesses, local government and community stakeholders; identify and minimize barriers to entry and scale; and cultivate an environment where innovation and technological development will thrive. Additional business incentives were put into place in the district as allowed by the enabling legislation including an investment deduction of 100% up to 10 years for real estate and personal property, abatement deductions for vacant buildings within the district, and a personal property AV floor exemption.