Fort Wayne announces Treeline District at former Pepsi site
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Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker on Thursday announced plans for the redevelopment of the former Pepsi warehouse site on the north side of the St. Marys River.
The city is partnering with Indianapolis-based Browning Real Estate Partners to create what will be known as the Treeline District, which will feature an extension of public space along the riverfront, as well as a mixed-use building with residential, retail and parking space.
Fort Wayne Community Development Director Jonathan Leist said the city has looked to redevelop the site for about a decade, and plans came into being just a few years ago when it acquired the site from PepsiCo for $4.5 million.
Demolition at the seven-plus acre property at 1207. N. Harrison St. began in February.
Leist told Inside INdiana Business that Browning’s proposal was chosen because of how it plays into the second phase of the city’s Riverfront Fort Wayne initiative.
“They realized how much the community and the city had embraced things like the Tree Canopy Trail and sort of that natural element that we’ve been able to maintain in our riverfront, while also turning it into this dynamic district that brings people downtown to recreate as well as is attractive for people to want to live in that area.”
The Treeline District will be bound by Harrison Street, the St. Marys River, Wells Street and 2nd Street near downtown Fort Wayne.
It will feature a new public park area that blends with the Tree Canopy Trail and existing riverfront amenities, with additional plans for a mixed-use building that will feature 250 apartments, 7,500 square feet of retail space and a public parking garage.
Leist said the public space aspect of the project has been key to the project, and the riverfront redevelopment as a whole.
“The thing we’ve been focusing on over the last decade or so as community leaders were able to visit other communities that were investing in their riverfronts and really turned them around from being what people considered a liability to turn them into a real draw and asset, part of that is making those spaces accessible, making them places that people want to visit and spend time in,” he said. “When you do that, not only do you get the new recreational space, you also get people more committed to maintaining that.”
Leist said the city and Browning will also work to reconnect adjacent residential areas by reestablishing the street grid.
“The location of that Pepsi facility, there were two streets that both just dead ended into that property,” he said. “So as we redevelop that site, we’ll be partnering with Browning to reestablish those connections to really make it both vehicular and pedestrian friendly for the neighborhood.”
An estimated cost for the project is not yet known.
The city’s redevelopment department has signed a memorandum of understanding with Browning to complete a detailed development agreement for the project over the next several months.
Leist said the goal is to begin construction on the first phase of the Treeline District, which will be the mixed-use building, in 2025.