Kelly Lynch looks at the building – once a prominent 1912 New York Central freight station – at Clinton and Fourth streets and sees a link to the city’s past and a linchpin for redevelopment of downtown Fort Wayne north of the St. Marys River.
For the building’s owner, Danny Rifkin, it’s just the opposite – a dilapidated old building, with a partly collapsed roof and rotting beams, in danger of falling into traffic along the busy road.
It stands in the way of selling the former OmniSource property to serious developers who could bring more people downtown, he said. He plans to tear the train station down in the next two weeks.
Lynch and a handful of others turned out Friday morning in front of the station to protest the proposed demolition, and ARCH, the historic preservation organization, issued a statement calling the building historically significant and asked Rifkin to reconsider his demolition plans.
The station is eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places and could be renovated into a catalyst for developing the area, said Michael Galbraith, ARCH’s historical preservation specialist.
“Places like Fort Wayne have developed buildings like this into things that have brought pretty good financial returns,” he said.
Lynch, for one, has proposed using it as a 1940s-themed jazz club, restaurant and convention center. It would be the center of a multimillion-dollar development on the property.
But Rifkin said the building’s time has come and gone. It’s been vacant for nearly 30 years and all that time, he said, he’s been unable to find anyone willing to invest the money to restore it.
The closest he came was six years ago when an architectural firm considered moving its headquarters there.
The firm rejected the idea when estimates showed it would cost $1 million more to renovate the building than to tear it down and build a replica.
It’s even more cost-prohibitive now, Rifkin said. And what’s more, it’s become a safety hazard – with frequent break-ins and in danger of collapsing.
“Ideas are a dime a dozen,” he said. “No one has ever come forward beyond the idea stage with any kind of offer.”
