Effective January 1, 2018, the Fort Wayne Urban Enterprise Zone footprint has been expanded by 75 percent to almost seven square miles. The expansion includes many of the city’s major corridors. With the new boundaries, also comes a change in the name to the Summit City Entrepreneur and Enterprise District, or SEED.

Aside from City of Fort Wayne changes to enlarge district, the State of Indiana expanded the available manufacturing incentives to include investments in innovation, technology and logistics. SEED businesses may be eligible for Real Estate and Personal Property tax deductions. Please review the SEED Tax Incentives available to businesses located in the SEED.

SEED Fort Wayne is also supporting new startup efforts. In 2019, two new programs were launched supporting emerging entrepreneurs; the Build Institute for business planning education and the SEED Business Grant.  To be notified of updates to these programs, send us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line: SEED News Release.

The Urban Enterprise Association was founded in 1984 to revitalize Fort Wayne’s industrial core and now operates under the d/b/a/ SEED Fort Wayne in partneership with the City of Fort Wayne.  The organization is dedicated to economic prosperity through equitable business growth and stable jobs for our community.