Episode 208: Electric Works January 12, 2024
by Granite Ridge Builders on YouTube
The General Electric campus has returned to life! One a bastion of the industrial might of the United States, these incredible buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair. Join the BTS crew as we explore this incredible revival and learn about everything Electric Works has to offer! [ Granite Ridge ]
Electric Works Update by PBS Fort Wayne from August 2, 2022 post on Facebook
Kevan Biggs ( Partner, RTM Ventures). This area’s only in-depth, live, weekly news, analysis and cultural update forum, PrimeTime airs Fridays at 7:30pm. This program is hosted by PBS Fort Wayne’s President/General Manager Bruce Haines. Aired 07/29/22, 26:50.
Electric Works: A New Kind of Energy posted Aug 2, 2022 by Electric Works Fort Wayne on YouTube. Located in the heart of downtown Fort Wayne, the historic 1.2 million square foot General Electric campus has been reimagined as a modern-day, mixed-use district of innovation. From business and education, to dining and shopping, Electric Works is generating a new kind of energy.
A photo of a flag posted July 4, 2019 by Electric Works on Facebook states once the “Biggest Flag in Indiana.” The photo is of Monument Flag in 1898. “Superintendent Edward Barnes decided that the Fort Wayne Electric Works should display the flag in a striking manner. He constructed a flagpole 120 feet high in the mold of the masts of English racing yachts. ...The pole carried a flag which was 32 feet, 6 inches wide by 54 feet, 6 inches long.
Happy Independence Day, America! Quote from General Electric of Fort Wayne, Indiana, A 110 Year History by Clovis E. Linkous. Published in 1994.Fort Wayne Electric Works Dragon Fan c. 1907 photos shown on
200 @ 200 2016 Bicentennial items at
The History Center.
November 2, 2022 post with before and after photos: Wow! The Union St. Market entrance is really starting to come together. This passage hasn’t seen usage since it was bricked off back in the 1950’s. It had previously been used by General Electric workers who parked their cars on the surface lots located north of the elevated train tracks. By West Central Neighborhood on Facebook.
Electric Works is honored to be chosen as Fort Wayne Magazine''s Project of the Year. This recognition is all about the people who brought Electric Works to life, and you can read about some of them in the December issue. Thank you to Fort Wayne Magazine and to the many, many people who have played a role in the project! Copied from a December 2, 2022 post on Facebook. Read the online copy of the December 2022 issue of Fort Wayne Magazine.
After years of planning and fundraising and building and restoring, the former General Electric campus in Fort Wayne is transformed into the new mixed-used development called Electric Works. WANE 15 got exclusive access to the different areas people can experience when they visit – and some of the areas not always open to the general public. Watch the different videos at WANE 15 explores everything Electric Works has to offer Alyssa Ivanson, December 7, 2022 at CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
Check out the latest on completed spaces over at Electric Works! There's Dynamo Alley, Union Street Market, The Forum, and much more!https://www.weigandconstruction.com/
Take a look at this stunning install! We are eternally grateful to Gleave Construction for bringing us the opportunity to build this masterpiece for them, and to Elevatus Architecture for their masterful concept design. Functionality and beauty can be married with the right team and BASTEEL has that in never ending supply.
Our campus sign is installed, and now we are ready to light it! Join us on campus Monday evening as we celebrate the inaugural lighting of the Electric Works and Do it Best sign.
Flipping the switch for the new Do It Best Electric Works sign will be a full-circle moment for Kevin Gilliam. He’s credited with "turning out the lights" for the last time at General Electric.
Flipping the switch for the new Do It Best Electric Works sign will be a full-circle moment for Kevin Gilliam. He’s credited with "turning out the lights" for the last time at General Electric.
January 31, 2023 post by Weigand Construction on Facebook.
What an iconic moment for our community! 💡
It's been quite a while in the making, but the new Do it Best Electric Works sign has officially been lit. If you didn't get the chance to come to the lighting ceremony last night, make sure you ✨look up✨ next time you're on Broadway!
#BuildingLandmarks #ElectricWorks #FortWayne
The lighted sign at Electric Works marks an important step in the years-long renovation of the sprawling and crumbling million square foot historic industrial campus in downtown Fort Wayne into a buzzing mixed-use district of innovation, culture and community. 🔆
➡️ Electric Works flips switch on new sign
Did you know that the Union Tunnel at Electric Works was previously used by GE employees? Now, the tunnel that has been closed off for years is being used once again to connect the Electric Works campus to parking on the other side of the tracks.
On this episode of HHMtv, we take the tour of Fort Wayne's biggest and most ambitious project to date, Electric Works with the help of our friends at Elevatus Architecture! A sprawling 700,000 sq ft campus, the historic GE Campus has been renovated and repurposed, and now is home to incredible things like Union Street Market, Prayerworksfw, and the Amp Lab at Electric Works. Bring the whole family down to the campus, enjoy some great food and drink at the Market, and enjoy the warm weather outside at the Weigand Yard! With more construction and more businesses being added, Electric Works is going to be an incredible asset to Fort Wayne for years to come! Make sure you follow along with HHMtv, so you don't miss an episode! #hhmtv#electricworks#myfortwayne
Have you heard the news? The Electric Works campus is now on the National Register of Historic Places!
FUN FACT: Parts of our campus date all the way back to 1883, when the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company was founded. Near the turn of the century, the company was acquired by General Electric, and the rest was history.
On Wednesday, we were privileged to host leaders from the National Parks Service for a campus tour.
Earlier this year, the National Park Service officially designated Electric Works as a historic district. The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic and architecturally significant assets, including buildings, structures, sites, objects, and districts worthy of preservation. Listing in the National Register is the first step towards eligibility for National Park Service-administered federal preservation tax credits. We're honored to have made the list!
“To have a successful redeveloped campus means that it can’t just look better. It has to be woven into this fabric.” Electric Works was featured on the PRX Podcast “Built", and host Brian Maughan and the PRX team visited Electric Works to learn about the campus’ history, how it’s being woven into the fabric of the community and surrounding neighborhoods, and plans for the future.
The Electric Works campus has been a center of industrial innovation for over a century. It all started in 1883 when Ranald T. McDonald and James Jenney founded the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light Company.
Later, Thomas Edison's General Electric Co. acquired and grew the business. By 1944, GE employed about 1/3 of Fort Wayne's workforce.
When the campus reopened in 2022, it became home to a new generation of innovators, creatives, entrepreneurs, and students. Learn more about the history (and future) of Electric Works:
Electric Works was one of 10 regional honorees of the 2023 Phoenix Awards — the premier national awards program celebrating exemplary projects in the redevelopment of brownfields. What's a brownfield, you ask? Brownfields are parcels of abandoned or inactive real estate whose expansion or reuse is complicated by the potential presence of substances deemed hazardous to people and the environment.
At last week's Phoenix Awards, Electric Works was recognized as the top brownfield redevelopment project for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5. The Electric Works team is honored to accept this national award on behalf of the public partners – including the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Allen County INfo, Allen County-Fort Wayne Capital Improvement Board, and the City of Fort Wayne Government – whose support was crucial in making the community’s vision for Electric Works a reality.
The Guess Who rocked the Electric Works rooftop last night! The band visited campus to shoot a music video for their new song “Pursuit of No Regrate.” 21Alive News was on site to talk to the band and music video director George Johnson, a Fort Wayne native.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, few places illuminate the history of the city quite like Fort Wayne Electric Works.
Founded in 1883, the massive campus was on the cutting edge of experimentation with electricity and continued to serve as a hub of innovation in the decades that followed. In the 1940s, the site was owned by General Electric and employed more than a third of the city!
It's fitting that after GE moved on, the property began a conscious, phased redevelopment effort to revitalize the space in a way that honors its history.
Today, Electric Works is home to thriving businesses, a STEAM high school, retail and office space, and even a farmer's market. And that's just Phase 1.
Learn more about this adaptive reuse success which received critical tax credit financing to fund the development from the National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC), a subsidiary of the National Trust.
What a difference 3 years makes! Governor Eric Holcomb visited Electric Works today to see the incredible progress on campus and to present Do it Best CEO and President Dan Starr with the prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash award.
Ancora|RTM Ventures will receive the Indiana Historic Preservation award for its outstanding rehabilitation tax credit project for its work on the West Campus of General Electric in Fort Wayne. Ancora|RTM Ventures’ Electric Works project included the rehabilitation of 10 historic buildings (c. 1907-1954) and the construction of one new building. General Electric began acquiring the land west of Broadway for the West Campus in 1906 and remained active on the site until 2014 when it closed the Broadway facility. The tax credit process for the project began in 2017 and was completed in April 2023. Including the new building, the Electric Works complex has more than 625,000 square feet of space that is a combination of office, educational, and retail uses.
While watching a documentary detailing our Electric Works history, 95 year-old Hildegard Hofacker, a retired teacher, recognized one of the General Electric retirees featured in the video. Denver Sarver was one of her former third-grade students, and the two recently reunited at Electric Works, more than 60 years later. Connections like this are why it's important to us to honor and maintain the history of campus.
Click the link below to watch this heartwarming story by Wane 15:
K&K Insurance Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) announced plans to relocate its Fort Wayne, Indiana office to Electric Works at the end of 2024.
K&K Insurance, founded in 1952 in Fort Wayne, specializes in providing coverage and claims resolution for sports, leisure, motorsports, event, and recreation organizations across the U.S. and Canada.
“We’re proud of our history in Fort Wayne and our growth from a small mom-and-pop motorsports insurance company to one of the largest sports and recreation insurance providers in the U.S.,” said K&K President and CEO Ron Norton. “While our current location no longer serves our needs, we’re happy that K&K will remain in Fort Wayne and excited about our move to the Electric Works campus.”
Many K&K colleagues are considered “hybrid,” working from home and the office as needed. K&K’s new office space will accommodate modern staffing needs and be designed for comfort, productivity, and the ability to serve clients with excellence. The company currently employs 260 colleagues, with open positions in underwriting and claims.
Jeff Kingsbury, chief customer officer for Ancora, the lead developer for Electric Works, said, “K&K is an innovative market leader, and a foundational company to northeast Indiana's specialty insurance sector. We are pleased they will remain in Fort Wayne and continue to grow at Electric Works, joining other sector leaders committed to attracting and retaining talent.”
John Urbahns, president and CEO of Greater Fort Wayne Inc. noted, “We are excited to see that K&K Insurance is continuing to grow in Fort Wayne. Specialty Insurance is a vital sector for our community, and K&K's commitment to expanding here is a testament to the strength of our economic development. Their presence at Electric Works will further enhance the thriving ecosystem of organizations choosing to stay and grow in Allen County."
Stephane Frijia, president and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership (NEI), added, “Our region’s strong economy is built on the success of existing businesses like K&K Insurance. As we work to attract new businesses, it’s critical to demonstrate a foundation of companies that are thriving in our community and investing in innovation and talent. Electric Works will be an ideal location for K&K’s continued growth.”
K&K Insurance will join a growing list of tenants located on the Electric Works campus, including Do it Best, Steel Dynamics, New Millenium Building Systems, Parkview Health, Medical Informatics Engineering, and more.
Indiana Tech has received a $21 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its initiative, College and Community...
Indiana Tech has received a $21 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its initiative, College and Community Collaboration (CCC). With the support from the grant, Indiana Tech will collaborate with a range of community and corporate partners to establish a new advanced manufacturing and innovation center located on the Electric Works campus in Fort Wayne; launch new talent attraction, development and retention initiatives; develop new programs that will support regional entrepreneurs; and build additional services that will help provide students of all ages with better access to training, certifications and degrees.
“All of us at Indiana Tech are grateful for the support of Lilly Endowment for this innovative initiative,” said Indiana Tech President Karl Einolf. “Our goals when developing our project proposal were to help our city and the entire region thrive by developing and retaining talent, supporting innovation at area companies, and advancing the work of area entrepreneurs. By doing so, we’ll grow the economy from within, and improve our community’s quality of life and place by connecting student energy, talent, and skills to economic and civic projects. We believe this project will be transformational for our region.”
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