On a snowy Monday morning last winter, Dane Leitch awoke, dreading the piles of snow he’d need to shovel in front of his business. Leitch, owner of Aaron’s Fine Rug Gallery, had grown accustomed to the drudgery of winter snow removal over the years. But on this particular morning, he arrived to find the sidewalk already cleared, thanks to the services of Downtown Fort Wayne’s Clean & Safe program.
Snow removal is just one of the many services provided by Downtown Fort Wayne, which recently expanded its boundaries up through the Wells Street Corridor and down Broadway, including the block where Aaron’s Fine Rug Gallery is located.
As a Downtown Improvement District, Downtown Fort Wayne must be reapproved every 10 years, a process that includes acquiring signatures from property owners representing more than 60% of the non-residential property and more than 60% of the non-residential real property value to be renewed to authorize a commercial district.
The expansion, filed last year and enacted at the beginning of 2026, increases Downtown Fort Wayne’s footprint from roughly 99 blocks to about 141 blocks, making this the largest Downtown Improvement District in Indiana…