FORT WAYNE, IN—The downtown of this Midwest city is set to take another big step forward. Officials from both General Electric and Greater Fort Wayne Inc. say that the manufacturing giant has begun a request-for-qualifications process to search for a developer and/or investor to redevelop the 1.2 million-square-foot GE Broadway St. campus, which has been unoccupied since January 2015.

Other nearby development projects that have either begun or been proposed include the $100 million riverfront plan, the $30 million redevelopment of The Landing, and the $85 million downtown arena. Furthermore, as reported in GlobeSt.com, Ash Brokerage, the largest independently-owned insurance brokerage agency in the nation, recently launched a $98 million mixed-use project for the downtown. The firm will build an eight-story, 95,000-square-foot, $29 million headquarters building in the city's downtown by 2018. The projects have captured the attention of several national developers, and influenced GE's choice to begin its potential redevelopment process.

GFW Inc. chief executive officer Eric Doden tells GlobeSt.com that his economic development team worked closely with GE during the last several months to build a relationship and encourage the company to move forward with redevelopment.