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some of the above artist rendered images are provided by the
City of Fort Wayne or developers of the project
AroundFortWayne.com
Harrison Square
The Proposed Embassy Walkway
For more details on this proposal, see the notes
from the
Redevelopment Commission's November 26, 2007 meeting
and the Local Historic
Preservation Board's meeting on the same date. This page
will be updated in the next day or two.
It's described as a unequivocal deal breaker.
Either this happens, or the hotel developers will walk away from the
project. If that would happen, the rest of Harrison Square
would collapse as each of the other components are contingent upon
the new hotel being built. The simplest solution would be to
build across Jefferson Boulevard directly into the Grand Wayne
Center. However, upon examining the facade of the structure,
this doesn't look feasible without damaging the aesthetics of the
building. Some critics have questioned why this possibility
wasn't designed into the building to start with - or at the least
the potential. Tunneling under Jefferson isn't feasible
because of water table issues.
So, the only option available at this point is to
build a walkway from the new hotel into the west side of the Embassy
Theatre. According to Deputy Mayor Mark Becker, the walkway will enter the Embassy Theatre
on the 3rd floor in the general area inside the black
border:
Going through the terra cotta, which is on the second floor and
corners of the building, is not an option. When the walkway
was constructed from the Grand Wayne Center to the Embassy Theatre,
a separate structure was built on the east side of the building
thereby not compromising the integrity of the historic structure.
The new walkway cannot be placed much farther to
the south as the stage expansion a few years back took up more space
inside the building.The problem of the
terra cotta will mean going up one story to the
third floor.
There is a difference of almost a half floor when going between
the
Grand Wayne Center Walkway and third floor of the Embassy Theatre.
On the north side of the building, the walkway could be widened to a
size about the shape of the Lobby of the Indiana Hotel on the ground
floor.
Cost for the project is set at $1,831,394. Deputy Mayor Mark Becker had stated that the $1
million put aside to pay maintenance costs on the current Memorial
Stadium at the Coliseum could be used for this now that the stadium
will probably be torn down when Harrison Square is completed.
When the original RFP's were released for the hotel, it was asked
that potential developers consider incorporating the Indiana Hotel
into their plans. However, the current developer, Acquest and
White Lodgings did not include it.
This walkway could be a step toward utilizing the Indiana Hotel.
In August, a working group convened
to consider design, financing and historical issues relating to this
proposed walkway.
The only governmental agency that has jurisdiction in this
matter will be the Local Historic Preservation Board, although the
Redevelopment
Commission will have to sign off on any agreements made and or
financial arrangements. The Embassy Theatre Foundation Board would have to
approve any plans as well, although City officials are optimistic this will
not be a problem.
News updates:
November 19, 2007
blog entry
Timeline:
November 19, 2007, November
22, 2007 and November 26, 2007
Originally posted: July 30th 2007, several
updates have occurred since.
Copyright © Stephen L. Parker, 2003 - 2008. All Rights
Reserved.
May not be copied in whole or in part without the expressed written permission
of the copyright holder.
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