Hal Barry, a prominent Atlanta developer who recently lost two downtown trophy buildings to lenders, is getting a second chance on a project in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The firm had run into trouble financing the project. But on Monday, Barry Real Estate Cos. announced new partners with fresh capital. The firm is the master developer of the project, a city-backed initiative to redevelop Fort Wayne's downtown, and previously finished a stadium and parking deck as part of it.
Also as part of the project, the firm was supposed to have finished a four-story “town square” building, but it hasn’t broken ground.
It shows the pain metro Atlanta developers can sometimes face far from home.
In Atlanta, Barry lost control of the flagship W hotel and condos and a 19-story office building that were part of a legacy development reshaping the northern edge of downtown.
In Fort Wayne, city leaders were so frustrated by the delays they filed a notice of default on the project in September, then approved $2.4 million in fines against Barry and a partner firm in January, according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
On Monday, Chris Schoen, chief executive officer of Barry Real Estate, presented a plan to Fort Wayne officials to get the $18 million building started. Plans now call for apartments instead of condos, a floor of office space that will be rented by a law firm, and ground-floor retail, he said. The fines only will be levied if the project is not completed, he said.
The firm is bringing in new local partners -- and capital -- to satisfy the Fort Wayne bank that’s involved. Schoen is a co-owner of the TinCaps, the Fort Wayne minor-league baseball team that got the stadium as part of the development and will invest in the building. (He also is an owner of the Savannah Sand Gnats.)
“They’ve been frustrated with us because of the timing,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The biggest single thing that’s held us up has been the financing. Very few projects are under construction even nationally. It’s just taking us longer than we ever anticipated.”
The project is in Fort Wayne Councilman Tim Pape's district. “Right when we finally got approval to spend public funds and go forward, we were just starting to go into the worst economy, and certainly the worst credit markets, in our lifetimes,” Pape said. But hopes are high for the new building, where his law firm will relocate. And new residences haven't been built downtown for 25 years, he said.
“The whole project has generated such a spirit of success and a new vision of downtown," Pape said. "Most of us are pulling for it.”
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