He also said the city will move to narrow Washington and Jefferson boulevards downtown.Fort Wayne will use half of a federal energy grant to pay for some of the renovations to the Renaissance Square building.
The city was awarded nearly $2.5 million in grants to improve energy efficiency in March. About $1.2 million of that money will go to improving heating and cooling systems at the 220,000-square-foot office building at 200 E. Berry St, mayoral spokeswoman Rachel Blakeman said.
The City Council last month agreed to buy the building for $7.3 million to house city and possibly county departments. A committee is examining which government departments should go in the building and which should go in the City-County Building. While those improvements are not likely to reduce renovation costs of the building – estimated at $7.2 million – they will save an estimated $600,000 annually in energy costs.
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., sent a news release Thursday touting grants across Indiana, saying Fort Wayne would use its entire grant for renovating the new building. Blakeman said that was not the case.
The city will use $494,880 from the grant to create a low-interest loan account for businesses to borrow money to reduce energy costs. The program will be run by Community Development, but the details have not been finalized, Blakeman said.
The rest of the money will be spent on an educational campaign for consumers to reduce energy use and to track city energy use, Blakeman said. There likely will be a consumer rebate program to encourage people to buy energy-efficient appliances, she said.
The Energy Department will administer the grants and will require cities and counties to report on the number of jobs created or retained, the amount of energy saved, the renewable-energy capacity installed and how much greenhouse gas emissions were reduced.
