→ How We’re Building Better Communities: We’re harnessing lessons from the success of Electric Works to bring similar transformative locally-led visions to other communities, as well as exploring ways we can apply the model to Electric Works Phase 2 and other areas of the city.
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Fort Wayne
Reviving Electric Works
Electric Works is a landmark adaptive-reuse project in downtown Fort Wayne, transforming the former 39-acre General Electric campus—18 historic buildings and more than 1.2 million square feet – into a mixed-use innovation district with offices, education, retail, housing, restaurants, public space, and entrepreneurial activity. After GE closed the campus in 2015, the project attracted nearly $300 million in investment, combining historic tax credits, public incentives, and private capital to bring a long-vacant industrial complex back to life.
Renewing Cities Director Eric Doden played a pivotal leadership role in making this redevelopment possible, championing the project during his tenure as CEO of Greater Fort Wayne Inc., helping build the public support necessary for such an ambitious redevelopment effort. Crucially, Eric understood that Electric Works was not simply a real estate project, but a greater catalyst for Fort Wayne’s next generation of economic growth—using the city’s industrial heritage to create a new center for innovation, entrepreneurship, jobs, and community activity. The project has since become a model for how historic industrial properties can be repositioned as engines of 21st-century economic development. In 2025, Electric Works was awarded the Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration by Indiana Landmarks.
The Renewing Cities’ nonprofit land trust model is being considered for the next phase of Electric Works, which is focused on redeveloping historic GE buildings on the east side of the campus. The model would provide a mechanism to place these properties in community ownership and leverage public, private, and philanthropic capital to accelerate their redevelopment. A similar trust structure is being considered for redevelopment along the Maumee River, creating an opportunity to expand the approach to an entire neighborhood or district.
Image credits: Visit Fort Wayne, Electric Works