FORT WAYNE, Indiana – More than three decades after making downtown Fort Wayne its corporate home, Indiana Michigan Power has renewed its commitment to downtown with a new, multi-year lease at its current location, which will be known as Indiana Michigan Power Center. The new lease will continue through 2031.

I&M’s decision to build at the location in the 1970s was crucial to the city’s downtown, which then had a number of vacant properties. Now, I&M is pleased to play a continuing role in the lively, vibrant downtown that is experiencing exciting new development.

“Downtown Fort Wayne’s continuing advancement is exhilarating, and we are very proud to continue to make our home in this flourishing environment,” said Paul Chodak III, President and Chief Operating Officer of Indiana Michigan Power. “A thriving downtown is important to not just our community but to all of northeast Indiana.”

With I&M’s extended commitment at Indiana Michigan Power Center, signs will soon be placed near the top of the east and west sides of Fort Wayne’s tallest building designating the home of Indiana Michigan Power, an operating unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP).

I&M will occupy more than one-third of the building, which Hanning and Bean Enterprises purchased. I&M will retain ownership of the plaza in front of Indiana Michigan Power Center, home to community events such as the popular Lunch on the Square.

“I am very pleased that Indiana Michigan Power will remain an important citizen downtown in the city’s tallest building,” said Bill Bean of Hanning and Bean Enterprises. “Indiana Michigan Power Center is one of the city’s key buildings, visible from several miles away, and we look forward to enhancing its uses as part of the exciting development occurring downtown.”

I&M’s headquarters has been in the 26-story building since 1981.

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Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) is headquartered in Fort Wayne, and its 2,500 employees serve more than 582,000 customers. It operates 3,595 MW of coal-fired generation in Indiana, 2,110 MW of nuclear generation in Michigan and 22 MW of hydro generation in both states.  The company also provides its customers 250 MW of purchased wind generation.

I&M is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

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News releases and other information about I&M is available at IndianaMichiganPower.com