University buys Fort Wayne’s Scottish Rite Center

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The University of Saint Francis is buying the 1920s-era Scottish Rite Center in downtown Fort Wayne, with plans to start a new media entrepreneurship training program there.

University officials announced the plans Thursday at the building it is buying for $1.3 million. University president Sister Elise Kriss says the school was looking for a chance to gain a downtown presence and that a new building would have cost at least $7 million.

St. Francis officials are working on renovation plans, but expect the center’s 2,000-seat auditorium and meeting rooms will remain available for shows and other public events.

The Fort Wayne Mizpah Shriners will keep their office at the center.