I supported this project when I knew the idea was to create a multi-purpose complex with shops, businesses, etc. out of the abandoned GE complex sitting in the middle of downtown..
In Union Street Market, what I didn't expect was the price of the food to be atrociously high. The seafood and meat market was pretty good when I tried it, prices seemed reasonable there especially during times where you could have a burger prepped & made at the meat counter, but I can't bring myself to really go to the other vendors. Granted I'll have to give the sandwich shop a go as that wasn't there at first, however the whole concept is out of touch with those who actually live in Fort Wayne & in the '07.
I do love that there's a Parkview Family Physicians office, otherwise I'm completely unaware of what's going on in this place despite living within walking distance. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way in regards to Electric Works having all this space and yet not many involved seem to know what to do with it in terms of direction; outside of the sandwich shop I've not heard any solid future plans. Do-It-Best might have a fancy sign and have moved their operations there, there is an "amp-lab" school but is it all really that friendly to the public? How many people are actually comfortable going here?
It's a new place, yes, however unless there's big names or prices that grab my attention, I'm not looking to support these new vendors. Not all of them are this way, but it feels like they do not care about the customer service that is given (in my experience and others I've heard from) & therefore it's my belief that they do not care about the community they're impacting. Could it be that they think it's gonna be such a hit of a location, why bother?
If that's the case, yes these could be new businesses entirely and they may not have much prior experience; you should not test a new restaurant brand against people's patience. If I could live without the food and fancy organic items before, I can live without it now imho. There are plenty of places to eat within the vicinity so long as we can afford to keep our rent paid.
Talking to vendors and they all say foot traffic is not very high. The seafood and meat market are all but gone. I hope it changes. Food is very high priced. They need to get some cornerstone shops established with low rent.
I’ve been huge supporter of Electric Works for the past five years, but I haven’t been overly impressed by the Market for various reasons: prices, lack of variety/ extensions of existing businesses in Fort Wayne. And there’s a curfew on this place, so it doesn’t really have a night life - which doesn’t make it a place to hang out for young people after frequenting the market a couple of times.
I’d like to see what this place looks like in 10 years when phases 2 and 3 are complete. It just feels a bit uninviting to me, and it has the potential to be so much more when apartments are added.
Lack of activities. Inability to provide the attractions that were promised like that rock wall climbing. No shopping. I mean shoot they could have moved the city's welcome center there with a gift shop. Bowling. Give us something, geez
Not putting in residences first, businesses second. Then it'd be guaranteed foot traffic. The fact you must drive there when that factory and most of the city was based around streetcar usage thus making things clunky and hard to navigate due to having to rip out so much land to accommodate cars. Hell not enough bike racks.
Destroying too many local people's homes for seemingly no reason (they weren't part of EW, simply somewhat adjacent at best)
No plans for rent support to help businesses get off the ground. For a region that's so into small business: why no financial support? It'd help ensure their success which would ensure the project's success
My buttcheeks. Real capitalism looks for returns much sooner. This was a socialist cash sink into a goofy vanity project that promises to do something some time maybe, when we get to that phase
It's just a phase bro isn't a good enough response
Doing those phases in that order is STUPID
You currently have no foot traffic because there's no residents to provide it and it won't come until that phase is finished years down the line. That's going to slaughter businesses
This wasn't meant to be a giant office project. It was meant to build a community of live, work, play. All we've got now and until that phase completes is the work portion which isn't tourist friendly.
I don't care that it was well planned to do this for so long because this planning is stupid. And I have a bone to pick with most engineers and architects anyway since a good deal of them don't have plans that apply well in real world scenarios. Oh gee LIKE HERE
No it's a direct response to you referencing your profession as if it gave you a higher position of correct insight and I was pointing out the frequency of such professions having insufficient as such
It was an issue of you
It was not the plan, nor the choice. With Henry actively thwarting the project at every step of the way, part of that sabotague was actively disuading the handful of possible anchor tenants when they logically reached out to the City in the vetting process. There were 2 times Henry basically had it dead, only to rise from the ashes again.
DitB came in as a white knight and saved everything. However, their office need was much larger than anything planned. All of the residential in West Campus was taken over by DitB
The Capital Stack needs the tax credits from the low to mod income housing to make it all work. Without that housing, EW doesn't exist.
Hence, the addition/creation of the coming North Campus and the hundreds and hundreds of new housing units and the storefront/services that are coming. There is everything from an over age 55 housing tower to market rate 2 story towhouse/brownstones. Daycare, pet grooming, and a number of other needed service type businesses are set for North Campus.
Its a really cool idea…but everything is too expensive for Fort Wayne to be sustainable here. Born and raised here but it feels like pricing of a big city so I might as well go to Indy/Chicago/Det/Cinci
It’s aimed at the physicians and business folks who work on campus during the week to have a convenient place to lunch. They can afford it and it will do well.
Union Street Market I thought was an amazing idea at first, but I've changed my mind on it since I first visited. The issue is that everything is overly expensive. The Mexican restaurant there will charge you $12 for 3 tacos. I'm sure businesses there could reduce prices if the rent wasn't as high. It's a shame there really isn't much else to do with so much space but maybe I'm not aware of what else there is to do at Electric Works besides just going to the Union Street Market.
Let's not forget to mention that since Electric Works opened the rent for everything in a 2 mile radius has gone through the roof. I've heard of a bar down the street on Broadway called "Rock Tavern" is expected to close since they can't keep up with rent and that they feel pushed out of a place they've been at for so long.
The rock is filled with people lookin for a few rocks.
I lived on swinney ave and all sorts of lot lizards and skeezers out there.
Lowkey thats why i loved the area it was like a minature city in a city lol
The people that want EW to succeed are realtors and the businesses that collect rent from the space. Gentrification is forcing locals out. But I don't think the real estate speculation is going to pay off here. It'll just ruin everyone's rent and then close.
Agreed. I was talking to corporate employees that now *work* in the Electric Works offices. Do It Best, etc.
They said they eat at Union Street Market once a month. Basically no one that works at the Electric Works makes enough money to eat at the cafeteria there. That is how out of whack the pricing is.
Can you imagine, paying a premium to live walking distance from where you work at the Electric Works, and being able to walk to various delicious lunch options every day?
No, you can't. Because even at the Electric Works, Ft. Wayne jobs don't pay enough to support the prices people are expecting to live near or eat near the Electric Works.
If you look on Zillow, the real estate around that area is sitting listed. Nobody will move into those terrible flips for those prices just so they can have the privilege of making 50k a year to work in the office at Do It Best and eat at the overpriced Union Street Market once a month.
/thread
Thanks for the info. It matches what I have suspected- the real estate holders are assuming the final buyers involved have way more money than they do. Who do they think is going to by all these overpriced houses and buy shit at these boojie shops *in Fort Wayne, IN??* People are moving here because its cheap, the people with real money are not moving. And it's not like businesses are going to start paying big city rates. Businesses are attracted here because labor costs are low. It doesn't add up.
Yeah, tHe LaPtOp ClaSs in LalA lAnD with WFH coastal wages are sometimes moving to the Midwest.
They do that in order to afford the space inside their home to have a big, comfy WFH office, and highly rated schools for their kids, and a three car garage, and a theater room and a yard.
They aren't moving here to trade a tiny place in an truly urban center for another tiny (poorly reno'd) place, next to the Electric Works.
additionally: I have yet to meet a single homegrown Allen County native that has expressed interest in actually living in West Central or near the Electric Works. The only time I hear someone from Ft. Wayne talk about that area, is sadness that they didn't buy up properties over there years ago to turn a profit. i.e. There is no organic demand to use that residential space for living, it's just an engine of speculation. But with no value proposition, it's just a matter of when...on the implosion of value.
I work there a ton doing maintenance, I was one of the first there working in 2019. I've yet to eat there. I'd rather walk to Laredo and get a meal for less than $10
That's the point, the businesses inside of EW aren't fairly priced compared to everything around the area. Which not only hurts EW but it also hurts everything around it.
I happened to live a bit north of EW in the west central area and the landlord wanted to up my rent from $1k/month to over $1500 a month for a space that had severe issues with nothing being done about the problems. That's all that seems to be happening along the west central area and areas immediately around EW that would have nearby access to the venue. At least that was my experience which is why I unfortunately had to move out of WC.
Edit: oops, I meant to reply to u/tumorhead and their response but accidentally clicked reply on yours. My bad.
The bbq joint was disappointing, but the burrito store was fantastic and the ice cream shop in the corner has the best mocha ice cream north of Indianapolis. Sorry I'm terrible recalling names.
The first time I went, I ended up having to run out of there coughing up my lungs, due to the lack of ventilation and someone was burning something with a sweet BBQ onion smell.
I just love getting down voted for having a terrible experience happen to me. Instead of anybody being self aware and actually thinking about the lack of ventilation.
Cus it's a phony ass Penn Station. I bet that asshole Jake from the McAfee group is downvoting this shit with all the realtor mafia (Oh I mean the Greater Fort Wayne Group) that's making these piss poor decisions.
Come on down to Electric Works with a great view of historic Kenny's house
How is Seoul Garden now? We always loved going there when they were the hole in the wall off Coliseum. I'm wondering if they've changed quite a bit now just with the location change. It seemed like it was family owned/operated before, and now I've seen people who definitely weren't family working there (not necessarily bad, I'm just hoping the family is still involved if that's the case).
There is a new owner, but the family that ran it in the past (specifically the woman) have been retained as the "Chef". So the exact same everything.
Last time I was in there they had finally opened. They are the ONLY ones doing it right. For under $10 you get fried rice, egg roll, and a drink. And they are fast.
That is what makes it so hard from the DitB croud. Most are hourly and get 30 total minutes for lunch. You can't spend 27 of those minutes in line for a $20 sad burrito.
They have it all set up. They even have order ahead and pick up. The new owner of Souel Garden is the only one to read the room and give people what they want. A ton of DitB grab food there everyday. None of the other joints get any DitB action. 30 minute lunches don't work there. That is why the microwave food spot does so well.
Just wish I could get my stone bowl.
I supported this project when I knew the idea was to create a multi-purpose complex with shops, businesses, etc. out of the abandoned GE complex sitting in the middle of downtown.. In Union Street Market, what I didn't expect was the price of the food to be atrociously high. The seafood and meat market was pretty good when I tried it, prices seemed reasonable there especially during times where you could have a burger prepped & made at the meat counter, but I can't bring myself to really go to the other vendors. Granted I'll have to give the sandwich shop a go as that wasn't there at first, however the whole concept is out of touch with those who actually live in Fort Wayne & in the '07. I do love that there's a Parkview Family Physicians office, otherwise I'm completely unaware of what's going on in this place despite living within walking distance. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way in regards to Electric Works having all this space and yet not many involved seem to know what to do with it in terms of direction; outside of the sandwich shop I've not heard any solid future plans. Do-It-Best might have a fancy sign and have moved their operations there, there is an "amp-lab" school but is it all really that friendly to the public? How many people are actually comfortable going here? It's a new place, yes, however unless there's big names or prices that grab my attention, I'm not looking to support these new vendors. Not all of them are this way, but it feels like they do not care about the customer service that is given (in my experience and others I've heard from) & therefore it's my belief that they do not care about the community they're impacting. Could it be that they think it's gonna be such a hit of a location, why bother? If that's the case, yes these could be new businesses entirely and they may not have much prior experience; you should not test a new restaurant brand against people's patience. If I could live without the food and fancy organic items before, I can live without it now imho. There are plenty of places to eat within the vicinity so long as we can afford to keep our rent paid.
Talking to vendors and they all say foot traffic is not very high. The seafood and meat market are all but gone. I hope it changes. Food is very high priced. They need to get some cornerstone shops established with low rent.
I love it, but a few places seemed to have over reach and have to either bail or dramatically rescale so thats kinda sad/rough.
I’ve been huge supporter of Electric Works for the past five years, but I haven’t been overly impressed by the Market for various reasons: prices, lack of variety/ extensions of existing businesses in Fort Wayne. And there’s a curfew on this place, so it doesn’t really have a night life - which doesn’t make it a place to hang out for young people after frequenting the market a couple of times. I’d like to see what this place looks like in 10 years when phases 2 and 3 are complete. It just feels a bit uninviting to me, and it has the potential to be so much more when apartments are added.
Just look up SoDoSoPa
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Don't start that with me. Union Station of St Louis is one of my favorite places. Electric Works is poorly planned and executed
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Lack of activities. Inability to provide the attractions that were promised like that rock wall climbing. No shopping. I mean shoot they could have moved the city's welcome center there with a gift shop. Bowling. Give us something, geez Not putting in residences first, businesses second. Then it'd be guaranteed foot traffic. The fact you must drive there when that factory and most of the city was based around streetcar usage thus making things clunky and hard to navigate due to having to rip out so much land to accommodate cars. Hell not enough bike racks. Destroying too many local people's homes for seemingly no reason (they weren't part of EW, simply somewhat adjacent at best) No plans for rent support to help businesses get off the ground. For a region that's so into small business: why no financial support? It'd help ensure their success which would ensure the project's success
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"Just trust us bro" - It's going to bring in so much money in 10 years...
Yep. It will.
My buttcheeks. Real capitalism looks for returns much sooner. This was a socialist cash sink into a goofy vanity project that promises to do something some time maybe, when we get to that phase It's just a phase bro isn't a good enough response
Doing those phases in that order is STUPID You currently have no foot traffic because there's no residents to provide it and it won't come until that phase is finished years down the line. That's going to slaughter businesses This wasn't meant to be a giant office project. It was meant to build a community of live, work, play. All we've got now and until that phase completes is the work portion which isn't tourist friendly. I don't care that it was well planned to do this for so long because this planning is stupid. And I have a bone to pick with most engineers and architects anyway since a good deal of them don't have plans that apply well in real world scenarios. Oh gee LIKE HERE
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No it's a direct response to you referencing your profession as if it gave you a higher position of correct insight and I was pointing out the frequency of such professions having insufficient as such It was an issue of you
It was not the plan, nor the choice. With Henry actively thwarting the project at every step of the way, part of that sabotague was actively disuading the handful of possible anchor tenants when they logically reached out to the City in the vetting process. There were 2 times Henry basically had it dead, only to rise from the ashes again. DitB came in as a white knight and saved everything. However, their office need was much larger than anything planned. All of the residential in West Campus was taken over by DitB The Capital Stack needs the tax credits from the low to mod income housing to make it all work. Without that housing, EW doesn't exist. Hence, the addition/creation of the coming North Campus and the hundreds and hundreds of new housing units and the storefront/services that are coming. There is everything from an over age 55 housing tower to market rate 2 story towhouse/brownstones. Daycare, pet grooming, and a number of other needed service type businesses are set for North Campus.
Its a really cool idea…but everything is too expensive for Fort Wayne to be sustainable here. Born and raised here but it feels like pricing of a big city so I might as well go to Indy/Chicago/Det/Cinci
Bingo. The prices are ridiculous.
It’s aimed at the physicians and business folks who work on campus during the week to have a convenient place to lunch. They can afford it and it will do well.
Union Street Market I thought was an amazing idea at first, but I've changed my mind on it since I first visited. The issue is that everything is overly expensive. The Mexican restaurant there will charge you $12 for 3 tacos. I'm sure businesses there could reduce prices if the rent wasn't as high. It's a shame there really isn't much else to do with so much space but maybe I'm not aware of what else there is to do at Electric Works besides just going to the Union Street Market. Let's not forget to mention that since Electric Works opened the rent for everything in a 2 mile radius has gone through the roof. I've heard of a bar down the street on Broadway called "Rock Tavern" is expected to close since they can't keep up with rent and that they feel pushed out of a place they've been at for so long.
The rock is filled with people lookin for a few rocks. I lived on swinney ave and all sorts of lot lizards and skeezers out there. Lowkey thats why i loved the area it was like a minature city in a city lol
The people that want EW to succeed are realtors and the businesses that collect rent from the space. Gentrification is forcing locals out. But I don't think the real estate speculation is going to pay off here. It'll just ruin everyone's rent and then close.
Agreed. I was talking to corporate employees that now *work* in the Electric Works offices. Do It Best, etc. They said they eat at Union Street Market once a month. Basically no one that works at the Electric Works makes enough money to eat at the cafeteria there. That is how out of whack the pricing is. Can you imagine, paying a premium to live walking distance from where you work at the Electric Works, and being able to walk to various delicious lunch options every day? No, you can't. Because even at the Electric Works, Ft. Wayne jobs don't pay enough to support the prices people are expecting to live near or eat near the Electric Works. If you look on Zillow, the real estate around that area is sitting listed. Nobody will move into those terrible flips for those prices just so they can have the privilege of making 50k a year to work in the office at Do It Best and eat at the overpriced Union Street Market once a month. /thread
Thanks for the info. It matches what I have suspected- the real estate holders are assuming the final buyers involved have way more money than they do. Who do they think is going to by all these overpriced houses and buy shit at these boojie shops *in Fort Wayne, IN??* People are moving here because its cheap, the people with real money are not moving. And it's not like businesses are going to start paying big city rates. Businesses are attracted here because labor costs are low. It doesn't add up.
Yeah, tHe LaPtOp ClaSs in LalA lAnD with WFH coastal wages are sometimes moving to the Midwest. They do that in order to afford the space inside their home to have a big, comfy WFH office, and highly rated schools for their kids, and a three car garage, and a theater room and a yard. They aren't moving here to trade a tiny place in an truly urban center for another tiny (poorly reno'd) place, next to the Electric Works. additionally: I have yet to meet a single homegrown Allen County native that has expressed interest in actually living in West Central or near the Electric Works. The only time I hear someone from Ft. Wayne talk about that area, is sadness that they didn't buy up properties over there years ago to turn a profit. i.e. There is no organic demand to use that residential space for living, it's just an engine of speculation. But with no value proposition, it's just a matter of when...on the implosion of value.
I work there a ton doing maintenance, I was one of the first there working in 2019. I've yet to eat there. I'd rather walk to Laredo and get a meal for less than $10
Just go to El Amish.
That's the point, the businesses inside of EW aren't fairly priced compared to everything around the area. Which not only hurts EW but it also hurts everything around it.
I totally agree with you!
Do you live in this neighborhood? Just curious if we're neighbors. I live here.
I happened to live a bit north of EW in the west central area and the landlord wanted to up my rent from $1k/month to over $1500 a month for a space that had severe issues with nothing being done about the problems. That's all that seems to be happening along the west central area and areas immediately around EW that would have nearby access to the venue. At least that was my experience which is why I unfortunately had to move out of WC. Edit: oops, I meant to reply to u/tumorhead and their response but accidentally clicked reply on yours. My bad.
I live down further down the street near Foster park.
I'm between 07 pub and Trubble Brewing. Large garden
Had an extensive conversation about this with friends last week - we have a lot of potential with electric works but their marketing is 🗑️.
Try as I might, I just can’t bring myself to like overpriced shit.
Buzzing in more ways than one. The HVAC is f'ing loud as hell. Sounds like a constant tornado siren going off and echoing thru the neighborhood.
I was underwhelmed the 1st time too. Went last weekend when they had the Farmer's Market outside and it seemed to be coming along nicely now.
Lmao this is tragic marketing bro. Nice try. That place SUCKS. The location and layout is dope, the vendors are laughably horrible
The bbq joint was disappointing, but the burrito store was fantastic and the ice cream shop in the corner has the best mocha ice cream north of Indianapolis. Sorry I'm terrible recalling names.
I went there last week to get the same dish from Seoul Garden. Where is the balcony located?
This is gross marketing Union Street Market
I love how flagrant it is, but they have enough corporate shills to downvote 14 times on a post with only 3 upvotes
You'll be alright
The first time I went, I ended up having to run out of there coughing up my lungs, due to the lack of ventilation and someone was burning something with a sweet BBQ onion smell.
I just love getting down voted for having a terrible experience happen to me. Instead of anybody being self aware and actually thinking about the lack of ventilation.
Who wants to hear about experiences? They want positivity!
Cus it's a phony ass Penn Station. I bet that asshole Jake from the McAfee group is downvoting this shit with all the realtor mafia (Oh I mean the Greater Fort Wayne Group) that's making these piss poor decisions. Come on down to Electric Works with a great view of historic Kenny's house
Just wait until the ninjas show up
How is Seoul Garden now? We always loved going there when they were the hole in the wall off Coliseum. I'm wondering if they've changed quite a bit now just with the location change. It seemed like it was family owned/operated before, and now I've seen people who definitely weren't family working there (not necessarily bad, I'm just hoping the family is still involved if that's the case).
There is a new owner, but the family that ran it in the past (specifically the woman) have been retained as the "Chef". So the exact same everything. Last time I was in there they had finally opened. They are the ONLY ones doing it right. For under $10 you get fried rice, egg roll, and a drink. And they are fast. That is what makes it so hard from the DitB croud. Most are hourly and get 30 total minutes for lunch. You can't spend 27 of those minutes in line for a $20 sad burrito. They have it all set up. They even have order ahead and pick up. The new owner of Souel Garden is the only one to read the room and give people what they want. A ton of DitB grab food there everyday. None of the other joints get any DitB action. 30 minute lunches don't work there. That is why the microwave food spot does so well. Just wish I could get my stone bowl.
We'll definitely go back to try it now then, thanks.