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Fort Wayne's 202 Metro Building to Rise Again: Historic Reconstruction After 1967 Fire Downtown

Updated: Aug 24

If you’re looking for historical pieces in Fort Wayne, Indiana, then check out the Fort Wayne Business Journal for stories about the city. Sturges Property Groupd is collaborating with Fort Wayne Business Journal.

The original building that covered the northwest block of West Berry and South Harrison was built in the 1880s. The three-story building was a mixed-use commercial and office building and housed many tenants during its tenure, from drug stores and soda shops to law firms, music studios, and jewelers.

This was part of the original layout at 202 Barry St. in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was once home to a drugstore as well as parking garage. They had 10 to 15 places for entrepreneurs to run their businesses.

For several years, Fort Wayne-founded Meyer Drug Company had a storefront here during the first half of the 1900s, along with several other locations throughout Indiana. The original building burned down in February 1967, resulting in a loss of $150,000 and the closing of the iconic Red Garter Cocktail Lounge, which you can see in the historic photo.


If you were looking for a cocktail lounge and dancing, this was the place to go in downtown Fort Wayne in 1900s. The Red Garter was a hit for local residence in Fort Wayne.


The 202 W Berry corner remained a parking lot until a freshly built six-story building was completed in 1975 and still stands on at the corner to this day. 


Since the 70s, 202 Metro has grown to an 8-story building and has housed various law firms, CPAs, banks, and other small office and retail users. In 1980, Sturges, Griffin, Trent & Co (now Sturges Property Group) moved in on the sixth floor and also took over maintenance duties for the building. Forty-five years later, Sturges Property Group still calls 202 Metro home, and affiliate company, Maintenance Management, still handles the building's maintenance!


This is the new building that came to downtown Fort Wayne after the Metro building burnt down! This is home to a lot of businesses held by entrepreneurs and strong business owners in downtown Fort Wayne.

 

This building underwent a $25 million renovation in 2018 and 2019 to become a first-class mixed-use tower. The top two floors of the building were completely gutted to develop 10 luxury condos, and the street-level bank downsized to make room for restaurant and retail spaces. The remaining floors were remodeled and updated into modern office spaces.

 

Improvements also included a complete overhaul of the building's infrastructure, including mechanical systems, elevators, windows, roof, building access, and streetscape, which was all completed in partnership with Sturges Development Group.

 

"You could just see this [building] was very tired… the windows, the concrete, just needed to be restored. We put together a nice, economical plan to replace the window system and totally restore the outside of the building."

-Brad Sturges, interview with WANE15 (2018)

 

The stately building is currently home to Sturges Property Group, Nexus Technology Partners, TI Source Project Management, GreenWay Bank, Katz, Sapper & Miller, and Pizza Hut operations offices, among many others.

 

Ground-level storefronts are currently available, along with office space on the second and third floors. Contact Sturges Property Group at 260-424-8448 to learn more or view the listing here.

(Historic image credit used in line-up: Indiana Album and The Johnson Brothers Sign Company Collection)

 

Story written by Kendall Heiser & Amy Schuldt of Sturges Property Group




 
 
 

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