Parts of the Memorial Stadium at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum will be auctioned off on May 30, 2009 at 9:00 am. Â The Allen County Commissioners voted approval of the sale at their Friday meeting. Â The auctioneer will be AAA Auction Service.
AAA Auction Service also performed the MLK Montessori School auction in August, 2007. Â The school was torn down to make way for Parkview Field. Â This led to one of the messiest demolitions I’ve ever witnessed. Â
The debris seen in the above photo extended on the outside of the building, along Lewis and McClellan Street. Â Roofing materials were strewn everywhere. Â The good thing about this is that much of the roof and main portico were used in other construction projects. Â In fact, the main portico ended up as a picnic pavilion in a campground up North.
From an article in the Journal Gazette:
[…] The auctioneer [AAA Auction Service] will receive $5,000 plus 10 percent of the proceeds from the single-day event, Coliseum General Manager Randy Brown said.
Brown hopes to bring in as much as $200,000 from the sale of the stadium lights, metal bleachers, plastic folding seats, furniture, concession equipment and field equipment. High schools, colleges and other minor-league teams are interested in buying the equipment, Brown said.
[…] The $2.7 million demolition project will also reconfigure the parking lot at the Coliseum, adding trees, parking islands, collections systems to prevent oil and gas from entering the nearby St. Joseph River, and rain gardens.
The AAA Auction Service listing:
Saturday May 30 – 9:00 am
Complete liquidation of Wizard’s StadiumMemorial Stadium (Wizard’s)
1616 E. Coliseum Blvd
Ft. Wayne, IndianaComplete liquidation of all surplus equipment and fixtures such as bleachers,seats,grounds equipment, restaurant equipment,light poles,fence,score board, office equipment, plus much much more. Watch here for complete list and pictures. Seller: Board Of Commissioners County Of Allen
What about the bricks?
I went on Friday to see if the bricks were still there in front of the main entrance. The bricks have names of donors to the Stadium when it was built. Some were there, and some were gone. My question is did they go to the families or to the NEW Parkview? This is a legacy. Without the old, we would not have the new.
Where are the bricks?
Dan – It would take 250,000 bricks to list all the donors to Parkview Field (Fort Wayne City Taxpayers) – there just isn’t enough room downtown! So just put up a plaque that says, “Furnished by the Citizens of Fort Wayne, Over Their Objections, by Our Elected (but Non-Responsive) Representatives”.
How different the funding has been for these two duplicative projects! One by choice and the most recent, by force de profundis.
Stephen- And in building our new ballfield, NOTHING of value from Memorial Stadium was re-used in the new one! That’s how very “green” our city fathers are! But then, that’s the very attitude of our younger citizens that is so upsetting to us older persons – If it isn’t the “latest and greatest” it’s no good!
Does thisd speak at all to our present financial crisis?
Jeremy, yes they will be demolishing the old stadium after the auction. There was a study done on what the best course of action would be. If you would like, I’ll be happy to throw the link out there again.
Just out of curiousity, how many charettes did you attend for the North River Now or BluePrint, BluePrint Plus projects, Jeremy and John? I’m not trying to argue or anything like that. We’ve never talked about it and I’m curious. Frankly, you can’t tell me what was in the place of the current Library, GWC or Harrison Square area was better than what we have now. Part of progress, part of growing, part of vitality is changing the landscape for the better. Our downtown was dying a slow and painful death. It’s been on the way back for at least two years and with Parkview Field and hopefully the rest of Harrison Square, it’ll be a vibrant exciting place to be and live!
John, I’m 27 and a big advocate for re-use…so are most of my friends and peers. I’m also employed, a tax payer and attend most events and attractions in the city. To me it seems as though the city’s decision making older persons decided it would be a good idea to bulldoze half of downtown for a hallway/ Dunkin Donuts in the library, an elaborate and mostly unused Grand Wayne Center and the ball stadium. There were tons of opportunities for re-use, but that’s not how our city works apparently. I don’t think this is an age group related issue. My question is, are they just going to bulldoze the stadium once everything is auctioned off? Seems to me like an empty ball stadium would be a great outdoor concert venue!
I’m not trying to argue here. Just giving my perspective as an active younger citizen. Quite honestly, I didn’t get too interested in what was happening downtown until I started seeing things disappearing. Not that I didn’t care about downtown, it’s just that at the time plans were being discussed, I was graduating college and starting my career. My major complaint isn’t about the loss of dilapidated houses or beyond repair structures. However, I did frown on the loss of re-usable, beautiful commercial structures that would have provided great storefronts right in the development area. I really think this is what we will have a lack of if downtown really booms (places for upstart business without having to build from scratch). My real problem is with the grand scale of everything. Most successful downtowns have numerous things to see and do. Not one. If you want an example, Muncie has a booming downtown day and night. This was done with creative problem solving and available resources (cool places in old buildings). This is the vibe that we are missing downtown. It’s there but it’s spread out, and all of the development doesn’t make it any easier to come together.
The Coliseium would not agree to sell anything to the new group! That is why nothing was reused. Also the Coliseum is planning on expanding the convention center another 100 foot to have more space for events while the, also county owned Grand Wayne Center, is barely a float!!
Thanks, Mark – didn’t know that, or if I did, I’d forgotten it. Do you think the success of the Coliseum is contributing to the status of the GWC, or is it because of no second, or third depending on how you look at it, hotel in close proximity to the GWC?
Jeremy: I’m all-in for the improvements to our Public Libraries, both downtown and the improvements at the branches. I believe this was a proper use for our tax money. I, with you, agree that the GWC and moving the ballpark have not yet proved to be economically sound decisions.
And I was not lumping all people younger that I into a single category (or at least I didn’t want to do that). People your age (and ALL ages) are necessary to keep Fort Wayne as a desireable place to live. I just hope that you can afford it in the years that are coming!
Thanks for your response.