Fort Wayne working to keep Navistar in town after move to Lisle scrapped

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- City and business officials are persisting with their drive aimed at persuading Navistar Inc. to keep its truck design center with more than 800 workers in Fort Wayne, even though the company expects to consolidate that work elsewhere.

A consultant hired by the city and the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance will help prepare proposals to the company. Mayor Tom Henry said the city was going to "bring every possible resource to bear" as it works to keep the Navistar center.

"Extraordinary times require extraordinary efforts, and this is one of those times," Henry said. "We're playing for keeps."

But the company said in a statement to The Journal Gazette that it was committed to consolidating its truck and engine design centers.

"In order to achieve our product development vision, the elements related to our core engineering and design functions at Fort Wayne will likely move," the company said.

Navistar in May dropped plans for moving the centers to Lisle after residents raised concerns about noise and safety.

Fort Wayne officials said the Strategic Development Group consultants had helped Akron, Ohio, persuade Bridgestone Americas to build a $100 million technical center there after the company considered moving it to Tennessee.

Henry said the consulting contract, not to exceed $95,000, would be paid for from the city's reserve fund.

Strategic Development Group President Mark Williams said Navistar's needs would be assessed as it helps prepare the city's next proposal.

"These things can be turned around," he said. "I'm not saying they all get turned around. I'm not saying this one will be turned around."

Navistar has a test track and its Truck Reliability Center in Fort Wayne, along with the Truck Design and Technology Center. The company's predecessor, International Harvester Co., once had about 10,500 workers in the city before closing its assembly plant in 1983.