The Downtown Improvement District on Wednesday announced the winners of its 2009 Hard Hat Awards. The honors were presented “to businesses and supporters who have excelled in their strategic leadership and management of downtown projects and businesses,” the district said in a written statement.

Golden Broom Awards, which recognize outstanding maintenance, went to St. Joseph Hospital for campus landscaping, Fort Wayne Parks Department for downtown landscaping, Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory for interior and exterior campus landscaping, Morrison Kattman Menze Inc. for facade painting and YMCA Graffiti Removal Network for downtown graffiti removal.

Golden Hammer Awards, recognizing building renovation or construction, were awarded to JK O’Donnell’s for restaurant expansion; St. Joseph Hospital for Jerry Henry Sr. Memorial Park; Don Hall’s Old Gas House for renovation; Lebamoff Law Offices for exterior lighting; and Trinity English Lutheran Church for renovation and addition.

The Mayor’s Trophy for outstanding management of a downtown project or business went to the TinCaps for bringing 400,000 visitors downtown during the baseball team’s 2009 season.

Development group outlines 2010 goals

The Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance on Wednesday announced its goals for 2010.

Among them will be 36 projects intended to retain and expand businesses and four to attract new businesses. One project in cooperation with Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership will be to bring a new business to Allen County.

The alliance also plans to launch a Web site this year that will feature a database of available industrial and commercial sites. In addition, it plans to continue the public-access TV show “Expanding Your View.”

Wells Fargo reports unforeseen profit

Wells Fargo is seeing early signs of improvement in its lending portfolios as it reported an unexpected fourth-quarter profit.

Wells Fargo & Co. says that while loan losses remain elevated, the bank’s confidence is growing that the worst of the cycle is over.

The San Francisco bank said Wednesday it earned $394 million, or 8 cents a share, in the last three months of 2009. It lost $3.02 billion, or 84 cents a share, a year ago. Earnings were reduced by 47 cents a share tied to the repayment of $25 billion in government bailout money.

Analysts were expecting a loss of 1 cent a share.

Wells Fargo set aside $5.91 billion for loan losses during the quarter, down 30 percent from a year earlier.

5 counties might join development district

The U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday that it plans to add five counties to a northeast Indiana economic development district. Allen, Adams, DeKalb, Wabash and Wells counties would be added to a district that includes Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben and Whitley counties – if required approvals are given.

The districts are intended to encourage regions to develop joint economic development strategies. The Commerce Department makes financial assistance available for that purpose.

The original five counties were designated in 1982.