Anyone who walked past the little depot north of Promenade Park this month and found it shuttered might wonder where Pufferbelly Ice Cream went. It isn't going far. The shop served its last scoops on Cass Street on Sept. 30, and the depot itself was scheduled to be moved on Oct. 15 to an outlot on the north side of the former Schaab Metal Products building property.
The building is staying on the riverfront. It is being set down at the center of the next stretch of riverfront to be built. The lot it lands on exists because of the Schaab redevelopment deal. The utility work forcing it out is the groundwork for the Treeline District. And the man who runs the ice cream counter is also set to manage the deli going in across the street.
The lot that pays for the move
According to the Journal Gazette, the depot has to move because utility lines need to be buried for the Treeline District's development. The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission approved a $1.3 million contract with Fort Wayne-based Woodruff Contracting and Sales LLC. The depot's new home is a new asphalt parking lot bordered by the riverfront and North Harrison, Third and Second streets.
The city is required to build it under its agreement with the entity renovating the Schaab building, which sits just south of the lot across Second Street. As Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly reported in April, the $1.3 million covers more than a truck and a crane. It pays for the parking lot, its stormwater detention, a foundation and utilities for the depot, and the move itself, according to community development spokeswoman Mary Tyndall.
The same money that meets the city's obligation to the Schaab developers also gives the depot its new foundation. The city's Redevelopment Commission minutes from August 2025 already described the depot relocation as part of the Treeline initiative, with the building moving northeast of its current site near the riverfront Esplanade.
From behind a bike shop to the corner of the lot
The Craigville Depot has moved before. It was built in 1879 along the Nickel Plate Railroad in Wells County and later stood in a wooded area in Jefferson Township, east of New Haven. After a $280,000 restoration, it came to its current riverfront site less than four years ago, as the home of PufferBelly Junction. Pufferbelly Ice Cream has run out of the depot since May 2024.
That riverfront site was never as visible as its location suggests. Redevelopment Director Alec Johnson told the Journal Gazette that the depot is currently hidden, tucked behind Fort Wayne Outfitters Bike Depot. At the new lot it will sit near the southeast corner, along the riverfront and more visible. The city spent six to eight months working with the depot's operators to pick that spot, and it timed the move around the ice cream season.
"We are going to move it as late as we can to give them time for everybody to go and enjoy some ice cream before it shuts down," Johnson told the Journal Gazette.
The depot is what's left of a bigger railroad presence downtown. Business Weekly reported that the city asked Pufferbelly Junction to sell back land it had acquired from the railroad. The group cut its downtown footprint to the club car and the depot it brought in during 2022. The club car was set to go to Pleasant Lake, where the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has an arrangement with a private railroad. Pufferbelly Junction president Richard Poinsatte noted that the move gives the group access to 100 miles of track, compared with 1.5 miles downtown. The excursions moved north, and the depot is the piece that stays in the city.
The same owner, across Second Street
The new lot sits across Second Street from the Schaab building, where the ice cream shop's owner is lined up for a second job. Zebadiah Boetcker owns Pufferbelly Ice Cream, and he will run Jasper's Table, a deli planned for the south side of the Schaab building's lower level at 1216 N. Harrison St. He described it to the Journal Gazette as a full-service new American deli with meats, cheeses, grab-and-go food and a walk-up counter for made-to-order charcuterie boards, "almost like an adult lunchable."
The deli is still a ways off. At a Sept. 16 walkthrough covered by Business Weekly, partner Patty Wood said the deli would take about 12 to 14 months to open once work started, which she expected within a few weeks. She and her husband are among about 10 partners renovating the building. Plans call for carryout food for picnics, a sit-down dining room with an outdoor porch, and deli counters selling wine and cheese. That picnic carryout would sit a short walk from a riverfront park, beside a depot that sells dessert.
One part of the building is already open. The Journal Gazette reported that Mitchell's Downtown opened in late September and serves lunch daily starting at 11 a.m., with a salad bar. It stays open until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Owner Todd Smith also runs Mitchell's Sports Bar & Entertainment Center at 6179 W. Jefferson Blvd., and Business Weekly reported that the downtown spot has a scratch kitchen, an outdoor patio and big screens for games. The two locations have more than 150 TVs between them.
Smith's second-floor dance club, with a patio overlooking the riverfront, is next on the list. Business Weekly calls it Flashbacks Downtown, and WANE 15 reported the name as Retro Rewind, expected in late 2026 or early 2027. Developer Don Steininger, whose group bought the building in 2023 and has put an estimated $8 million into reusing it, also said the upper level will probably get a high-end restaurant.
Walking it this fall, south to north
Here is the route a riverfront walker will take this fall, from the depot's old spot to the Harrison Street block:
- Fort Wayne Outfitters & Bike Depot, 1004 Cass St. The shop is staying. It will lose the storage shed just north of it, which makes room for the utility lines and new park space. The city approved a contract of nearly $33,000 for Hoch Associates to start designing a renovation of the Cass Street depot, which could close in the open-air breezeway.
- The new parking lot at North Harrison, Second and Third streets. The Craigville Depot's new home is the southeast corner of this lot, facing the river.
- The Schaab building, 1216 N. Harrison St. Mitchell's Downtown is open now, with Jasper's Table and the dance club still to come. Business Weekly reported about four parking spots on the south side for quick carryout and a larger lot on the north side by the Mitchell's entrance.
- Hop River Brewing Co., 1515 N. Harrison St. The brewery sits farther up the same street.
The Treeline District covers the ground between these stops and the water. The city's Treeline District project page sets its boundaries as Harrison Street, the St. Marys River, Wells Street and Second Street. The first phase is expected to include about 250 apartments, 7,500 square feet of retail, a parking garage with public parking, and a new park area tied into the Tree Canopy Trail. The Craigville Depot's new lot sits right at the district's Harrison Street edge.
When the ice cream comes back
The timing depends on permits. The most recent word came from Boetcker in a Journal Gazette item listed Sept. 22. He hopes that getting settled at the new site, and the permitting that comes with it, will go smoothly enough to reopen four to six weeks after the move. Counting from the scheduled Oct. 15 move date, that points to mid-to-late November. An earlier Journal Gazette report on the city contract said the shop would reopen at its new location next year. For now, Pufferbelly's website says "Closed For The Season!" and gives no reopening date.
When it does reopen, the menu stays the same, with hard dip ice cream, bubble waffles and self-serve candy, served from the same 1879 depot on its new foundation at North Harrison and Second.
If you own a home near Harrison Street or the north side of the riverfront and want to know how the Schaab building and the Treeline District's first phase factor into your property's value, Morken Real Estate Services can give you an appraisal-informed answer for your address. Request Your Home Valuation.
