Is Electric Works working? And what's happening behind-the-scenes?

Hey Locals,

One of our biggest stories last year was breaking news on some concerning developments at Electric Works, including lawsuits related to its leadership and funders. 

• Long story short: We started looking into this when multiple readers informed us that a significant leader on campus and owner of the project’s anchor dining tenant (Scott Fergusson of Chapman’s Brewing) was involved in multiple legal cases, some dating back to April 2020 — before Chapman’s signed its letter of intent to locate at Electric Works in November 2021. 
• Perhaps most notably: A key Electric Works investor Tim Ash’s investment management company, Ash Crest Corp., was one of the plaintiffs suing Fergusson for $745,000 (plus interest and damages) for “a loan related to Fergusson’s interest in Chapman’s Cider Company, LLC,” which it says Fergusson did not comply with “in any way.” The deal was made in April 2021, and the suit was filed in August 2024. 
• Since then: Fergusson lost the case in July 2025, but has not yet settled the damages with Ash Crest Corp. A meeting is scheduled for March 30, 2026, when Ash Crest will collect its debt, which has been accruing more interest and now totals more than $1M. (Fergusson settled his other two lawsuits we reported on last year.)

So why does any of this matter? And how does it relate to what’s happening at Electric Works now?

Here are two quick things to know:

• Operations management on campus is currently in flux under the leadership of Fergusson's company 3PO. At the time of our report last year, Fergusson and 3PO (Three Pillar Operations) had recently taken over multiple public-facing parts of the project: Managing all bars on campus as well as the Union Street Market food hall, campus events and coworking. Previously, these roles had been assigned to multiple staff members and partners (like Carr Workplaces). But Electric Works leadership (like Jeff Kingsbury of RTM Ventures) decided to consolidate the roles under one team, under Fergusson’s leadership, despite knowing about his legal challenges. (See our interview with Kingsbury and Fergusson here.) Now, we’re seeing the fallout of that decision. (More on this later.)
• The Union Street Market (USM) food hall is still lacking much activity and has a lot of vacant stalls. Fergusson’s 3PO was contracted to manage USM, which, per the City’s 2020 contract with Electric Works, was to be “a dynamic and inclusive place that supports the farmers and food producers of Northeast Indiana while enhancing community wellness and providing access to healthy foods to underserved residents.” The contract also mandated the creation of a nonprofit Public Market Trust to oversee the market’s mission and ensure its management was delivering. But clearly, between 3PO and the Trust, something is amiss. At a recent visit to the food hall during lunch hours, we found it mostly empty of consumers, with 10/14 vendor stalls vacant in East Hall and 3/12 vacant in West Hall.

So… what exactly is happening at Electric Works?

We did some emailing and digging this week to see what we could find out, and while our report is far from complete, it provides what might be the clearest picture of what’s happening on campus to date.

To develop this report, we reached out to several contacts, including, but not limited to:

• Ferguson Advertising (Electric Works PR)
• Biggs Group (Developers of The Elex)
• Electric Works website media inquiries 
• Members of the Public Market Trust 
• Plowshares Food Hub

Here’s a quick summary of what we learned: