Gary, Indiana, sees bonds’ role in revitalization push
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The city of Gary, Indiana, has its sights on bonds for several projects in a planned revitalization effort.
Bond financing is likely for the Gary Metro Center station redevelopment project, and the construction of a convention center in Indiana’s Lake County.
Notre Dame’s School of Architecture is working with the city on the revitalization, conducting community listening and public urban planning sessions through its Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative. The HCRI will then work with Gary officials to develop a 10-year action plan for revamping the downtown area.
“This partnership is a unique opportunity to create a new master plan for our great city,” Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said
SB0434 also establishes a Lake County economic development and convention fund, which will hold deposits, appropriations and bond proceeds. Money in the fund may be used to build and equip a convention center in Lake County and to pay the principal and interest on any bonds issued by the Regional Development Authority to finance the convention center’s development.
As Gary looks to seize the moment, Harris said, Melton has set the city up for a successful revitalization.
“His efforts are why Gary has the downtown TDD and financing available to spark development within the TDD,” he said.
Cusato noted downtown is “historically disinvested”: most of the buildings are lost and those that remain are in varying states of disrepair. The role of the HCRI and city leaders is to work within fiscal realities, she said, and the reality is recovery will be costly.
“This recovery will require federal and state grants to upgrade infrastructure, nonprofit participation to help bridge the gap between cost of housing and wages [and] private investment to develop new buildings and businesses,” she said.
Affordable housing is a top priority, she added. “In the most economically vibrant cities, wages have not kept up with the cost of housing; in Gary, this issue is even more acute,” Cusato said. “The goal of this partnership is to establish a vision and action plan that takes all of these variables into consideration so the plan put forward leads to positive growth.”
Harris said the next step is a public engagement process, which will be developed in early August; the final draft will be made public during the city’s Broadway Summit, which takes place August 28, 29 and 30.
“The city of Gary is poised for growth,” he said, pointing to the city’s international airport, highway and tollway access,
