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3 hours ago, MrsStoller said:

https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/excitement-builds-as-fort-wayne-preps-for-ncaa-championship-weekend/1847675205

Nice story with some nice compliments about playing in Indiana and the Coliseum. Maybe it will be looked at for future Division I games? 

I always wondered why that wouldn’t be a viable option for first round NCAA games. It’s very centralized between a lot of cities and has the hotels and restaurants you need. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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Yes, there is a lot of positive momentum going on around Ft. Wayne

In reference to Ft. Wayne being a nice "little city", the city itself has a population of about 260,000 people, but the "metropolitan area" which includes surrounding counties is about 620,000. There is an initiative to get the population of NE Indiana to 1,000,000. During the summer, when all of the "lakers" head north, it feels like that has already happened.

Ft. Wayne is pouring tons of $$$ into developing its riverfront area into a destination site. If you don't know, Ft. Wayne is known as the "Three Rivers City" as the confluence of the St. Joseph, St. Mary and Maumee Rivers is near downtown. The city has plans to spend over $100 million to build this area up, which in my lifetime has been neglected, and mostly left to blight. There is also plans in the works to renovate the old General Electric plant, which at its peak employed 20,000 people. The plans are to make this abandoned eyesore into multi-purpose facilities, including living space, retail, as well as office and developmental space. The budget for this project is over $60 million.

Like many cities, Ft. Wayne is trying to become more attractive to millenials in hopes of drawing them to, and keeping them here. There has and will continue to be regentrification of the downtown area as they are re-purposing many of the old factories into lofts/condos/apartments and building new houses geared towards this age group. The mayor of Ft. Wayne is up for re-election this year, and is hanging his hat on the progress he has spearheaded. For the first time in quite some time, there looks to be a pool of highly qualified candidates to oppose him.I don't think anyone wants to put the brakes on the progress the city is making, but it will be interesting to see how these folks differentiate themselves.

Exciting times in NE Indiana for sure. Hope the plans of attracting and keeping young people comes to fruition. The area is betting on it.

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I think the main thing is getting enough people there to fill up on tv. You want people to want to make the trip there and it be entertaining. Sure your going to get family and hardcore fans travel but you want to appeal to those fans that are on spring break it’s worth the trip to go to the game.

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26 minutes ago, dgambill said:

I think the main thing is getting enough people there to fill up on tv. You want people to want to make the trip there and it be entertaining. Sure your going to get family and hardcore fans travel but you want to appeal to those fans that are on spring break it’s worth the trip to go to the game.

There are enough fans in the area to fill it up......I would bet it would be sold out inside of 2 hours.

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I am impressed with how many of our members are from Fort Wayne and surrounds.  And doubly impressed by how the city is growing and improving itself.

I only wish that I could say the same for the part of the state, in which I grew up in..... NWI.

Stay strong NEI !

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I moved up to Fort Wayne from Wells County / Poneto in December of 2017.  If anyone remembers, 2 years ago to the day almost, I posted that my job of 2 decades was closing the doors and selling the plant (Buckhorn Bluffton).  Many here said they would pray for me and many more offered support.  2 years later.... I have a great job doing something I enjoy (most of the time) making more than twice as much.

To all those who offered support / prayers or simply thought of me then, thank you.

 

Fort Wayne has been very enjoyable, living off of Dupont Road (the number of IU plates astounds me).  So much to do.  Every eatery ever is within 20 minutes.  There is likely more to Fort Wayne that I will never enjoy or know about simply because the city offers so much.

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11 hours ago, milehiiu said:

I am impressed with how many of our members are from Fort Wayne and surrounds.  And doubly impressed by how the city is growing and improving itself.

I only wish that I could say the same for the part of the state, in which I grew up in..... NWI.

Stay strong NEI !

The Fort has always been a great city.  But their local government seems to be full of great visionaries.  Back in the late 80's they put the loop in(I-469).  Totally unheard of, in that time, for a town of that size.  It has payed major dividends for not only residents but for the adjoining  communities.  Smart move.  I would also be interested as to how many cities the same size could say they have minor league baseball, minor league hockey, a G-league basketball team, and a professional football franchise?  Yep, Fort Wayne is my kind of town.  

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2 hours ago, rico said:

The Fort has always been a great city.  But their local government seems to be full of great visionaries.  Back in the late 80's they put the loop in(I-469).  Totally unheard of, in that time, for a town of that size.  It has payed major dividends for not only residents but for the adjoining  communities.  Smart move.  I would also be interested as to how many cities the same size could say they have minor league baseball, minor league hockey, a G-league basketball team, and a professional football franchise?  Yep, Fort Wayne is my kind of town.  

Like Harry Baals?

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