One year, four months, and two days is what it took for the Hillcrest Commons to be built and celebrated at the ribbon cutting on February 3, 2026. Before the ribbon cutting took place, the people involved in the project honored Hillcrest School where thousands of students received a first-class education. The caring and outstanding teachers formed their students to be good citizens from 1929 until 1978 when Hillcrest was closed and sold.
It truly took a village to bring this project to fruition. It started decades ago under Maynard Scales when he was the Executive Director of Fort Wayne Housing Authority (FWHA). Mr. Scales and I had talks about how the owner let the property go to rack and ruin before the FWHA took it over. Mr. Scales wondered if it would be possible to round up alums to help clean up the grounds. Mr. Scales retired and Mr. George Guy took over as CEO and Executive Director and tirelessly worked to bring Hillcrest School back to life; It took another 13 years.
The first proposal was to make it into apartments for veterans, but the federal housing programs were not interested in that population. Other grants were submitted but turned down for various reasons, but the staff kept searching and submitting them. Then came COVID, changing the world. It was a major distraction and the brakes were put on building public housing. Once COVID was managed, nationally there was great concern about the number of displaced unhoused people. Public Housing was once again at the forefront and this time funds were made available for this project with the caveat that the school would be demolished and a new building would be built…