my name is Matt Hawkins and I am a
real-estate agent here in Fort Wayne and
I’m really excited to share with you
guys today about how I see resurgence
happening here in Fort Wayne and with
our city and with our culture and with
what’s happening in our in our downtown
area and so I want to highlight just a
few things for you but I wanted to
preface it with this about ten years ago
I would not have been able to give this
speech in honesty I grew up outside
Chicago in the suburbs I love Chicago I
love the food there a little bit too
much I love the sports and just the
culture and rich heritage of that town
has and so I moved here when I was about
20 years old I’ve been here for about 15
years and for the longest time I really
struggled with being from Fort Wayne
being from you know this this area this
town here and my friends and family in
Chicago like why did you move to Fort
Wayne there’s nothing going on they just
you know go to Applebee’s and watch the
comets you know on the weekends and how
does that work for you because you’re
used to what’s happening here in the
city and so I really struggle with that
for a long time and it’s been in the
past five or ten years that I’ve really
kind of changed my thought process is
being not afraid to say I’m proud to be
from Fort Wayne and it’s great because
the city and what’s happening in Allen
County is just amazing the growth the
resurgence of life the downtown booming
our real estate market being strong so I
wanted to share with you again just this
this afternoon a few a few things that I
get excited about personally and why I’m
proud to be from Fort Wayne and I am
proud to be a part of what’s happening
here in this city and so I think if you
ask everyone that’s in here if you’re
from Fort Wayne you know what makes Fort
Wayne special for you so maybe just
think about that why do you feel proud
to be a part of Fort Wayne and so I did
my best to come up with my reason I’m
proud obviously for the housing that’s
affordable we can live in a nice home
that in Chicago I would just not be
possible I could not live in the home
that I have in Chicago I love where
community is heading with pride
and with what the neighborhoods are
doing I love the amenities that our city
has that is growing and it’s becoming
more and more feeling like a bigger city
than what we have and so it’s really
great to see what’s happening in that
realm and also obviously our city is
super family-oriented a lot of things to
do as a family the quality of life for
young kids and family is just great and
we’ve been noted by several magazines
for that fact that it’s a great place to
raise
family and so I have a quote here we’re
getting recognition not sure if you guys
recognize this or not from things like
Business Insider magazine Food & Wine
magazine The Wall Street Journal about
what’s happening with our urban
Renaissance here in Fort Wayne and so
here’s a quote from Business Insider
they ranked Fort Wayne the best place to
raise a family and not gonna read the
whole thing but they they narrowed it
down in the very end Fort Wayne
residents loved the city’s easy access
to both big-city amenities like a
thriving nightlife and family-friendly
offerings like the local children’s zoo
so they see hey we have these great
things happening without the big city
hassle like traffic and high taxes and
stuff like that so I wanted to cover
this for a few minutes about the real
estate market as a whole
like I said Fort Wayne is getting
recognition from places around the
country and according to realtor.com
we’ve seen really great strengths in
having a strong market here in Fort
Wayne and so in the past year or so we
have seen rankings anywhere from like 11
down to four but what’s important here
is that we’re always consistently at the
top of what’s happening and their
metrics and their data are pulling from
our low days on market they’re noting
how many impressions each page gets on
their website and they see just the
activity and the excitement that’s
happening here in Fort Wayne and if
you’ve been a part of that all the past
two or three years you’ve noticed how
how stressful that can be but how you
can get a great price for your house and
how you’re competing with others when
you’re buying and so it’s just really
cool to see our town be a part of what’s
happening on a grand scale we’re ahead
of cities like Los Angeles we’re ahead
of cities like Denver and Austin and San
Jose that see these great you know
swings in real estate and so it’s really
encouraging and it’s great to see that
happening here in our own our own town
in Fort Wayne here I asked another agent
kind of what he’s excited about he’s
been doing this for much longer than I
have he’s been practicing real estate
for over 30 years his neighbors did his
name is David grainy and I asked him I
said hey what are you most excited about
when it comes to the Fort Wayne real
estate market and moving forward and he
said this he said the resurgence and the
momentum of the market now that sounds
like I might have baited him with like
if you can use the word resurgence
that’ll make me look really cool because
then I can like tie him together and it
that’s what he’s excited about to see
just the growth in the life and the
activity of our market here that’s
strong and so I have a few charts here
to share with you guys you mental to
read the small print in the bottom but
this is a chart that goes back from 2004
on the left there all the way to 2017
and this chart is showing the volume of
sales from those years and so you can
see in 2004 we were about 600 million
dollars of total volume this is in Allen
County
for residential homes we dip down a
little bit in the recession in 2008 and
9 through 11 and then I’m gonna go to
the next one here it’s it comes all the
way up to about 500 million dollars in
2010 and so if you can read back to 2017
we’re up to almost 1 billion dollars in
total volume of sales and homes in Fort
Wayne Indiana so it’s showing the
resurgence the growth the the momentum
that we’re seeing here in Fort Wayne and
then the next graph here is going to be
the average sales price of a house back
in 2004 the average sales price was just
about 120,000 dollars
and so we saw a little dip there went up
a little bit came back down and then
here is gonna show just the upward trend
from 2010 up until 2017 so in 2010 we
were right under 120 thousand dollars
was the average sales price of a house
and last last year we saw that come up
to 160 $3,000 so great growth in just
seven years and seeing our city come
around what’s happening and the life
that’s being breathed into our city I
think that kind of reflects that and so
obviously you’re wondering so what’s why
is that you know why are we seeing
growth in in the Fort Wayne market and
why are we seeing growth in what’s
happening here in Allen County and so
I’m not an economist I don’t have a
great you know stats on that but what I
can gather from is going to be that we
have really great growth when it comes
to jobs Fort Wayne how our unemployment
rate is lower than the Indiana average
is also lower than the US average so
we’re seeing some great strides when it
comes to that obviously we we all know
that the cost of living here is is low
and so a lot of people can afford to buy
a house when they’re younger Millennials
can be at one category we’re seeing
obviously our lower taxes that we have
here property taxes and stuff like that
and we’re seeing great manufacturing
drill if you know Fort Wayne for the
longest time was a manufacturing city
and it still is
since 2001 we have seen a 20% increase
in manufacturing growth here in
northeast Indiana so it’s encouraging
again you see that the resurgence that
momentum that that movement forward with
our manufacturing which once was really
a part of our city and so I’m excited
about that but I want to kind of shift
now to probably what’s more important
than just real estate information I want
to shift and kind of talk about how I
believe and what I get excited about is
some of these neighborhoods that are
close to downtown that are seeing just a
great resurgence and influx of young
families and professionals and people
that are moving to them so the first
neighborhood I wanted to share about for
a few minutes is the four six eight zero
two neighborhood that is going to be
downtown with west central being a kind
of a part of that neighborhood beautiful
old homes you can see here that
beautiful Victorian home you have urban
loft style apartments and urban homes
that are there just a complete mix of
the two it’s just a great place it’s a
lot of great activity down there and in
the past seven years we’ve seen a 480
percent increase in the median sales
price of homes in that area so no doubt
we’re all seeing what’s happening
downtown and the housing market is
strong in that area and in 2010 this old
house the the PBS show that does
renovations and remodeling with older
homes noted that West Central just that
great classic neighborhood was voted the
best old house neighborhood here in Fort
Wayne Indiana and so trying to think
through like you know what what is
fueling that fire like why is there this
all of a sudden this great desire to be
downtown again and I kind of highlighted
a few things that get me excited the
baseball stadium if you remember when
they started to plan this out not very
many people had very positive hopes for
this stadium they said why would someone
go downtown to watch baseball why would
they does not go to the Coliseum and so
they put the stadium up and we’re
consistently being ranked as one of the
greater stadiums for minor league
baseball in the country and we’re seeing
a lot of people come down that don’t
even necessarily like baseball that go
down just to hang out to be a part of
what’s going on maybe you’re a Thirsty
Thursday person I’m not sure but it’s a
it’s a great place to kind of anchor
what’s happening in downtown and so you
have restaurants pop up like our farm to
table restaurant Tolan which does a
great job at just amazing food we have
coffee asses down there we have
breweries it’s just a great
great thing that’s happening and like
I’d mentioned that my um I’m from
Chicago my family would come visit me
and before you go downtown there was
nothing going on after 4:00 or 5:00 in
the afternoon you see maybe you get a
Coney dog or something at Coney Island
but that was really ball was going on
and so every time I bring my parents
back or my family back they see
something newer and there’s just it’s
great life that’s happening and so I
wanted to give the next neighborhood
here the old five that’s my neighborhood
I love and I’m proud to be a part of
that neighborhood you have the beautiful
lakeside park there with the rose
gardens you have just beautiful homes
like this this home there on West Drive
on the lower left on the screen and
obviously the Forest Park full of our
just beautiful classic amazing homes of
great character and great heritage and
history and so just a good mix of of
different style of homes that are there
this neighborhood has seen a 30%
increase in the median sales price in
the past seven years and when I’m really
interested because I lived there because
I’m a young professional I’m a young
person I have a family
like why are these young families moving
here like what is the pole and so on I
talked to my neighbor who is a physician
in Ames Craig Dowling he could live
probably anywhere in Fort Wayne he could
pick any side of town he wants to live
on he could probably build a beautiful
home I said why did you pick this area
why did you decide to be intentional by
being here and in the yell fire so I’m
gonna read his quote here real quick he
says we have loved the development of
our North anthony corridor east eight
village over the past five to six years
we hope more local restaurants and
businesses will continue to see success
and continue to thrive in this area
between here in downtown we have awesome
developments from old crown and bondi to
acme sweet Lou’s and Nick’s to now
places like Conger coffee and hop river
our hope is more young families like
ours continue to consider the o-5 is
home and I think that that last part of
that is what I want to just latch on to
for a minute now there’s a lot of young
families and young professionals that
are excited about being in the city
close to what’s happening downtown
and I’m here’s a picture of his
beautiful home that might be why he
moved there because it’s a really great
beautiful home on Forest Park but I
really think that he got on to something
where the downtown area is seeing growth
and revitalization for sure and these
neighborhoods that are very close to
this or seeing that happen on a
different scale there’s a lot of
walkability factors in play you can walk
to a park you can
walk down to Conger coffee like the
previous guy talked about how his
favorite spot is the friendly Fox mines
Conger so visit that if you’re around
but you can walk to places like this you
don’t get sometimes in a subdivision and
so he’s noting that these young families
want to feel connected they want to fit
they’re a part of something they can
walk they’re in a neighborhood and they
can be a part of some that’s going on
and so the next neighborhood is gonna be
the four six eight zero seven or the Oh
seven as they call it this is gonna be
yep this is going to be down Southwood
and near the high school down there and
again just beautiful beautiful homes
beautiful craftsman and character homes
it’s a great neighborhood this one’s
seeing really great growth when it comes
to the market they’re seeing about a
seventy six percent increase in median
sales price in the past seven years so
if you live there that’s that’s good for
you and a lot of young people are
wanting to be down that way and be
connected to what’s happening in that
area with the different pubs and coffee
houses and restaurants and that kind of
stuff and so I went back to David I said
hey like are you noticing you know
people moving to these neighborhoods and
why do you think that is just trying to
do some research with that and his
buzzword was the personality factor with
these homes and this could apply for
anywhere this could apply for the oh
five or the oh seven or downtown but
these homes have personality they’re not
just clones of each other with a
different door they have charm they have
character they have quirks you know
forget in for bad and um one of my
friends I asked her again just kind of
researching asking her what she thought
about her decision to buy a house down
that way and she highlighted close to
downtown right so she’s a part of what’s
happening in the city there’s a lot of
local offerings going on with her your
area and then she can walk to stuff with
her kids and be a part of what’s
happening there in the city again so
we’re no doubt seeing just this great
shift in this great trend to have these
neighborhoods that are classic iconic
Fort Wayne neighborhoods seriously right
revitalization and growth and some
really great things that are happening
so lastly I wanted to highlight just a
few things when it comes to downtown and
like I mentioned earlier we’re seeing a
lot of national recognition with with
different websites and magazines and
stuff like that and Food & Wine magazine
said you’ve probably already heard the
buzz over Indianapolis or Columbus now
less expected cities like Fort Wayne
Indiana are starting to skew younger in
cool
and so they came out they noted just
some of the the hipster hangouts like
conjurer who yesterday was just voted by
this magazine the best coffee house in
Indiana so another plug for them but I’m
there noticing what’s happening here and
so it’s just a really cool thing and so
no doubt the downtown is really fueling
that all the different developments and
unless you’ve been just asleep at the
wheel or not paying attention you’re
there’s so many great developments
happening downtown and so here’s a few
of them gonna highlight them just really
quickly for you and hopefully we can get
excited as the community of what’s going
on so this is the riverfront development
this is going to be down on the st.
Marys River off of Superior Street they
have a whole different phases of growth
that’s happening there but they’re
currently in phase one building a park
and a pavilion and this is their master
plan to see this area just grow and you
see restaurants come here and to see
some mixed development use and to see
coffee houses and all those great things
and so there’s life there I mean just
you can see that at the core of Fort
Wayne is the rivers and we’re
celebrating life and we’re providing
this area on the rivers to to celebrate
right and so just a really cool develop
I know in the wintertime they had some
cool fire pits so we’re all freezing it
on there and and be it a fire pit the
next one is going to be the skyline
Tower which is right next to the ash
building this one’s seeing a great
facelift and it’s gonna be mixed-use
development so you’re gonna have housing
you’re gonna have some businesses you’re
gonna have just a whole host of
different things that are happening with
retail space and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
is gonna be the anchor in the bottom of
that building for another restaurant
downtown then we have the GE electric
works and again this could be a whole
talk in itself just you know the history
and the heritage of this campus how its
seen different changes throughout
history now what’s happening with it but
there’s this great plan great excitement
about what’s happening down here and so
again it’s gonna be more mixed-use
you’re gonna have residences you’re
gonna have coffee houses you’re gonna
have restaurants are gonna have startups
that are down there you’re gonna have
some educational centers for people with
different schools and so it’s just their
their mission and their their idea is
gonna be based around innovation energy
and culture when it comes to that campus
and so it’s just really cool to see
what’s happening there and they’re
obviously looking for a public and
private partnership to make this great
just to be a real blessing for our
community and something we can all rally
around as foreign residents and then
lastly the landing which is one of our
route Fort Wayne’s original areas like
that’s where
first post office was and so that’s the
kind of the first central hub of what
was happening and now they’re giving
everything a facelift they’re remodeling
it more mixed-use more housing so you’re
seeing a lot of really cool housing come
down to these areas like different loft
spaces and all these different really
cool environments to live and so they’re
really just being intentional about
getting people into Fort Wayne into
downtown where life is happening and I’m
not sure if you guys have ever followed
anyone from Fort Wayne rising it’s a
really great Instagram account I
encourage you to check it out but
they’re doing an amazing job at
highlighting what’s happening here in
our city and they they’ve been posting
pictures of different construction
projects homes that have been renovated
just life and activity and just kind of
trying to build in a culture of pride in
our area and I asked him like what are
you most excited about just kind of in
some of the research and he said that he
had met a couple that found his
Instagram account from Atlanta so they
moved here from Atlanta they built a
house downtown and they were excited and
they did that because they saw the life
that was happening from an Instagram
account you know they saw this pride
growing this this movement of young
people and old people wanted to be
intentional about their city and living
in in Fort Wayne and so they chose to be
a part of what’s happening it’s just
really exciting to see that and so like
I said there’s lot to be excited about
in Fort Wayne and we’re seeing a real
growth in what’s happening in our city
and I’m proud to be a part of that but
you have the real estate market you have
these classic neighborhoods you have the
development but at the core of all that
is all of us we’re all a part of that so
I would encourage you please be
intentional about being a part of what’s
happening here in Fort Wayne to be
excited about the growth that we’re
seeing to be a part of what’s happening
in that realm so pay attention be out
there be intentional with that and it’s
gonna be a great forward step we have with our city so thank you
real-estate agent here in Fort Wayne and
I’m really excited to share with you
guys today about how I see resurgence
happening here in Fort Wayne and with
our city and with our culture and with
what’s happening in our in our downtown
area and so I want to highlight just a
few things for you but I wanted to
preface it with this about ten years ago
I would not have been able to give this
speech in honesty I grew up outside
Chicago in the suburbs I love Chicago I
love the food there a little bit too
much I love the sports and just the
culture and rich heritage of that town
has and so I moved here when I was about
20 years old I’ve been here for about 15
years and for the longest time I really
struggled with being from Fort Wayne
being from you know this this area this
town here and my friends and family in
Chicago like why did you move to Fort
Wayne there’s nothing going on they just
you know go to Applebee’s and watch the
comets you know on the weekends and how
does that work for you because you’re
used to what’s happening here in the
city and so I really struggle with that
for a long time and it’s been in the
past five or ten years that I’ve really
kind of changed my thought process is
being not afraid to say I’m proud to be
from Fort Wayne and it’s great because
the city and what’s happening in Allen
County is just amazing the growth the
resurgence of life the downtown booming
our real estate market being strong so I
wanted to share with you again just this
this afternoon a few a few things that I
get excited about personally and why I’m
proud to be from Fort Wayne and I am
proud to be a part of what’s happening
here in this city and so I think if you
ask everyone that’s in here if you’re
from Fort Wayne you know what makes Fort
Wayne special for you so maybe just
think about that why do you feel proud
to be a part of Fort Wayne and so I did
my best to come up with my reason I’m
proud obviously for the housing that’s
affordable we can live in a nice home
that in Chicago I would just not be
possible I could not live in the home
that I have in Chicago I love where
community is heading with pride
and with what the neighborhoods are
doing I love the amenities that our city
has that is growing and it’s becoming
more and more feeling like a bigger city
than what we have and so it’s really
great to see what’s happening in that
realm and also obviously our city is
super family-oriented a lot of things to
do as a family the quality of life for
young kids and family is just great and
we’ve been noted by several magazines
for that fact that it’s a great place to
raise
family and so I have a quote here we’re
getting recognition not sure if you guys
recognize this or not from things like
Business Insider magazine Food & Wine
magazine The Wall Street Journal about
what’s happening with our urban
Renaissance here in Fort Wayne and so
here’s a quote from Business Insider
they ranked Fort Wayne the best place to
raise a family and not gonna read the
whole thing but they they narrowed it
down in the very end Fort Wayne
residents loved the city’s easy access
to both big-city amenities like a
thriving nightlife and family-friendly
offerings like the local children’s zoo
so they see hey we have these great
things happening without the big city
hassle like traffic and high taxes and
stuff like that so I wanted to cover
this for a few minutes about the real
estate market as a whole
like I said Fort Wayne is getting
recognition from places around the
country and according to realtor.com
we’ve seen really great strengths in
having a strong market here in Fort
Wayne and so in the past year or so we
have seen rankings anywhere from like 11
down to four but what’s important here
is that we’re always consistently at the
top of what’s happening and their
metrics and their data are pulling from
our low days on market they’re noting
how many impressions each page gets on
their website and they see just the
activity and the excitement that’s
happening here in Fort Wayne and if
you’ve been a part of that all the past
two or three years you’ve noticed how
how stressful that can be but how you
can get a great price for your house and
how you’re competing with others when
you’re buying and so it’s just really
cool to see our town be a part of what’s
happening on a grand scale we’re ahead
of cities like Los Angeles we’re ahead
of cities like Denver and Austin and San
Jose that see these great you know
swings in real estate and so it’s really
encouraging and it’s great to see that
happening here in our own our own town
in Fort Wayne here I asked another agent
kind of what he’s excited about he’s
been doing this for much longer than I
have he’s been practicing real estate
for over 30 years his neighbors did his
name is David grainy and I asked him I
said hey what are you most excited about
when it comes to the Fort Wayne real
estate market and moving forward and he
said this he said the resurgence and the
momentum of the market now that sounds
like I might have baited him with like
if you can use the word resurgence
that’ll make me look really cool because
then I can like tie him together and it
that’s what he’s excited about to see
just the growth in the life and the
activity of our market here that’s
strong and so I have a few charts here
to share with you guys you mental to
read the small print in the bottom but
this is a chart that goes back from 2004
on the left there all the way to 2017
and this chart is showing the volume of
sales from those years and so you can
see in 2004 we were about 600 million
dollars of total volume this is in Allen
County
for residential homes we dip down a
little bit in the recession in 2008 and
9 through 11 and then I’m gonna go to
the next one here it’s it comes all the
way up to about 500 million dollars in
2010 and so if you can read back to 2017
we’re up to almost 1 billion dollars in
total volume of sales and homes in Fort
Wayne Indiana so it’s showing the
resurgence the growth the the momentum
that we’re seeing here in Fort Wayne and
then the next graph here is going to be
the average sales price of a house back
in 2004 the average sales price was just
about 120,000 dollars
and so we saw a little dip there went up
a little bit came back down and then
here is gonna show just the upward trend
from 2010 up until 2017 so in 2010 we
were right under 120 thousand dollars
was the average sales price of a house
and last last year we saw that come up
to 160 $3,000 so great growth in just
seven years and seeing our city come
around what’s happening and the life
that’s being breathed into our city I
think that kind of reflects that and so
obviously you’re wondering so what’s why
is that you know why are we seeing
growth in in the Fort Wayne market and
why are we seeing growth in what’s
happening here in Allen County and so
I’m not an economist I don’t have a
great you know stats on that but what I
can gather from is going to be that we
have really great growth when it comes
to jobs Fort Wayne how our unemployment
rate is lower than the Indiana average
is also lower than the US average so
we’re seeing some great strides when it
comes to that obviously we we all know
that the cost of living here is is low
and so a lot of people can afford to buy
a house when they’re younger Millennials
can be at one category we’re seeing
obviously our lower taxes that we have
here property taxes and stuff like that
and we’re seeing great manufacturing
drill if you know Fort Wayne for the
longest time was a manufacturing city
and it still is
since 2001 we have seen a 20% increase
in manufacturing growth here in
northeast Indiana so it’s encouraging
again you see that the resurgence that
momentum that that movement forward with
our manufacturing which once was really
a part of our city and so I’m excited
about that but I want to kind of shift
now to probably what’s more important
than just real estate information I want
to shift and kind of talk about how I
believe and what I get excited about is
some of these neighborhoods that are
close to downtown that are seeing just a
great resurgence and influx of young
families and professionals and people
that are moving to them so the first
neighborhood I wanted to share about for
a few minutes is the four six eight zero
two neighborhood that is going to be
downtown with west central being a kind
of a part of that neighborhood beautiful
old homes you can see here that
beautiful Victorian home you have urban
loft style apartments and urban homes
that are there just a complete mix of
the two it’s just a great place it’s a
lot of great activity down there and in
the past seven years we’ve seen a 480
percent increase in the median sales
price of homes in that area so no doubt
we’re all seeing what’s happening
downtown and the housing market is
strong in that area and in 2010 this old
house the the PBS show that does
renovations and remodeling with older
homes noted that West Central just that
great classic neighborhood was voted the
best old house neighborhood here in Fort
Wayne Indiana and so trying to think
through like you know what what is
fueling that fire like why is there this
all of a sudden this great desire to be
downtown again and I kind of highlighted
a few things that get me excited the
baseball stadium if you remember when
they started to plan this out not very
many people had very positive hopes for
this stadium they said why would someone
go downtown to watch baseball why would
they does not go to the Coliseum and so
they put the stadium up and we’re
consistently being ranked as one of the
greater stadiums for minor league
baseball in the country and we’re seeing
a lot of people come down that don’t
even necessarily like baseball that go
down just to hang out to be a part of
what’s going on maybe you’re a Thirsty
Thursday person I’m not sure but it’s a
it’s a great place to kind of anchor
what’s happening in downtown and so you
have restaurants pop up like our farm to
table restaurant Tolan which does a
great job at just amazing food we have
coffee asses down there we have
breweries it’s just a great
great thing that’s happening and like
I’d mentioned that my um I’m from
Chicago my family would come visit me
and before you go downtown there was
nothing going on after 4:00 or 5:00 in
the afternoon you see maybe you get a
Coney dog or something at Coney Island
but that was really ball was going on
and so every time I bring my parents
back or my family back they see
something newer and there’s just it’s
great life that’s happening and so I
wanted to give the next neighborhood
here the old five that’s my neighborhood
I love and I’m proud to be a part of
that neighborhood you have the beautiful
lakeside park there with the rose
gardens you have just beautiful homes
like this this home there on West Drive
on the lower left on the screen and
obviously the Forest Park full of our
just beautiful classic amazing homes of
great character and great heritage and
history and so just a good mix of of
different style of homes that are there
this neighborhood has seen a 30%
increase in the median sales price in
the past seven years and when I’m really
interested because I lived there because
I’m a young professional I’m a young
person I have a family
like why are these young families moving
here like what is the pole and so on I
talked to my neighbor who is a physician
in Ames Craig Dowling he could live
probably anywhere in Fort Wayne he could
pick any side of town he wants to live
on he could probably build a beautiful
home I said why did you pick this area
why did you decide to be intentional by
being here and in the yell fire so I’m
gonna read his quote here real quick he
says we have loved the development of
our North anthony corridor east eight
village over the past five to six years
we hope more local restaurants and
businesses will continue to see success
and continue to thrive in this area
between here in downtown we have awesome
developments from old crown and bondi to
acme sweet Lou’s and Nick’s to now
places like Conger coffee and hop river
our hope is more young families like
ours continue to consider the o-5 is
home and I think that that last part of
that is what I want to just latch on to
for a minute now there’s a lot of young
families and young professionals that
are excited about being in the city
close to what’s happening downtown
and I’m here’s a picture of his
beautiful home that might be why he
moved there because it’s a really great
beautiful home on Forest Park but I
really think that he got on to something
where the downtown area is seeing growth
and revitalization for sure and these
neighborhoods that are very close to
this or seeing that happen on a
different scale there’s a lot of
walkability factors in play you can walk
to a park you can
walk down to Conger coffee like the
previous guy talked about how his
favorite spot is the friendly Fox mines
Conger so visit that if you’re around
but you can walk to places like this you
don’t get sometimes in a subdivision and
so he’s noting that these young families
want to feel connected they want to fit
they’re a part of something they can
walk they’re in a neighborhood and they
can be a part of some that’s going on
and so the next neighborhood is gonna be
the four six eight zero seven or the Oh
seven as they call it this is gonna be
yep this is going to be down Southwood
and near the high school down there and
again just beautiful beautiful homes
beautiful craftsman and character homes
it’s a great neighborhood this one’s
seeing really great growth when it comes
to the market they’re seeing about a
seventy six percent increase in median
sales price in the past seven years so
if you live there that’s that’s good for
you and a lot of young people are
wanting to be down that way and be
connected to what’s happening in that
area with the different pubs and coffee
houses and restaurants and that kind of
stuff and so I went back to David I said
hey like are you noticing you know
people moving to these neighborhoods and
why do you think that is just trying to
do some research with that and his
buzzword was the personality factor with
these homes and this could apply for
anywhere this could apply for the oh
five or the oh seven or downtown but
these homes have personality they’re not
just clones of each other with a
different door they have charm they have
character they have quirks you know
forget in for bad and um one of my
friends I asked her again just kind of
researching asking her what she thought
about her decision to buy a house down
that way and she highlighted close to
downtown right so she’s a part of what’s
happening in the city there’s a lot of
local offerings going on with her your
area and then she can walk to stuff with
her kids and be a part of what’s
happening there in the city again so
we’re no doubt seeing just this great
shift in this great trend to have these
neighborhoods that are classic iconic
Fort Wayne neighborhoods seriously right
revitalization and growth and some
really great things that are happening
so lastly I wanted to highlight just a
few things when it comes to downtown and
like I mentioned earlier we’re seeing a
lot of national recognition with with
different websites and magazines and
stuff like that and Food & Wine magazine
said you’ve probably already heard the
buzz over Indianapolis or Columbus now
less expected cities like Fort Wayne
Indiana are starting to skew younger in
cool
and so they came out they noted just
some of the the hipster hangouts like
conjurer who yesterday was just voted by
this magazine the best coffee house in
Indiana so another plug for them but I’m
there noticing what’s happening here and
so it’s just a really cool thing and so
no doubt the downtown is really fueling
that all the different developments and
unless you’ve been just asleep at the
wheel or not paying attention you’re
there’s so many great developments
happening downtown and so here’s a few
of them gonna highlight them just really
quickly for you and hopefully we can get
excited as the community of what’s going
on so this is the riverfront development
this is going to be down on the st.
Marys River off of Superior Street they
have a whole different phases of growth
that’s happening there but they’re
currently in phase one building a park
and a pavilion and this is their master
plan to see this area just grow and you
see restaurants come here and to see
some mixed development use and to see
coffee houses and all those great things
and so there’s life there I mean just
you can see that at the core of Fort
Wayne is the rivers and we’re
celebrating life and we’re providing
this area on the rivers to to celebrate
right and so just a really cool develop
I know in the wintertime they had some
cool fire pits so we’re all freezing it
on there and and be it a fire pit the
next one is going to be the skyline
Tower which is right next to the ash
building this one’s seeing a great
facelift and it’s gonna be mixed-use
development so you’re gonna have housing
you’re gonna have some businesses you’re
gonna have just a whole host of
different things that are happening with
retail space and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
is gonna be the anchor in the bottom of
that building for another restaurant
downtown then we have the GE electric
works and again this could be a whole
talk in itself just you know the history
and the heritage of this campus how its
seen different changes throughout
history now what’s happening with it but
there’s this great plan great excitement
about what’s happening down here and so
again it’s gonna be more mixed-use
you’re gonna have residences you’re
gonna have coffee houses you’re gonna
have restaurants are gonna have startups
that are down there you’re gonna have
some educational centers for people with
different schools and so it’s just their
their mission and their their idea is
gonna be based around innovation energy
and culture when it comes to that campus
and so it’s just really cool to see
what’s happening there and they’re
obviously looking for a public and
private partnership to make this great
just to be a real blessing for our
community and something we can all rally
around as foreign residents and then
lastly the landing which is one of our
route Fort Wayne’s original areas like
that’s where
first post office was and so that’s the
kind of the first central hub of what
was happening and now they’re giving
everything a facelift they’re remodeling
it more mixed-use more housing so you’re
seeing a lot of really cool housing come
down to these areas like different loft
spaces and all these different really
cool environments to live and so they’re
really just being intentional about
getting people into Fort Wayne into
downtown where life is happening and I’m
not sure if you guys have ever followed
anyone from Fort Wayne rising it’s a
really great Instagram account I
encourage you to check it out but
they’re doing an amazing job at
highlighting what’s happening here in
our city and they they’ve been posting
pictures of different construction
projects homes that have been renovated
just life and activity and just kind of
trying to build in a culture of pride in
our area and I asked him like what are
you most excited about just kind of in
some of the research and he said that he
had met a couple that found his
Instagram account from Atlanta so they
moved here from Atlanta they built a
house downtown and they were excited and
they did that because they saw the life
that was happening from an Instagram
account you know they saw this pride
growing this this movement of young
people and old people wanted to be
intentional about their city and living
in in Fort Wayne and so they chose to be
a part of what’s happening it’s just
really exciting to see that and so like
I said there’s lot to be excited about
in Fort Wayne and we’re seeing a real
growth in what’s happening in our city
and I’m proud to be a part of that but
you have the real estate market you have
these classic neighborhoods you have the
development but at the core of all that
is all of us we’re all a part of that so
I would encourage you please be
intentional about being a part of what’s
happening here in Fort Wayne to be
excited about the growth that we’re
seeing to be a part of what’s happening
in that realm so pay attention be out
there be intentional with that and it’s
gonna be a great forward step we have with our city so thank you
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