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[Hypnotic]

I think that we should have a thread where we can keep track of and discuss projects that are under construction, planned or proposed for the city. We can also exchange ideas about what types of developments Michigan City needs to attract to be competitive in the region. I am sort of a development nerd and the idea comes from 'Skyscraperpage' where the site is devoted to major construction projects from around the world.

Current projects and proposals:

Michigan City Police Station
Lifeworks Business Park
Construction on South Franklin
Realignment of Washington and Pine
New activities center/pavilion at Washington Park
U.S. 421 Overpass
U.S. 12 bridge
Franklin Street Bridge
LMGIS
Art Space
Proposed "up-scale" hotel for North End
Former Memorial Hospital Site
Trail Creek Corridor
Beautification of Nipsco Cooling Tower
Nipsco "Scrubber"
NICTD Track Realignment

We have a lot of development in the works. I've always felt that Michigan City is a sleeping giant that has the potential to dominate the region. We have had multiple developers envision high-rises and mid-rises in the city at various locations. I can remember back in 2006-2007 a developer from Chicago wanted to demolish Galveston Steakhouse and erect a 13 story "S" shaped condo on the site before the economy collapsed. Another developer proposed two 20 story condo/hotel buildings for the former Memorial Hospital site and Lohan-Anderson recommended 3-24 story condos for Trail Creek next to Blue Chip. The possibilities are endless but the city must rid itself of the terrible NIMBY'ism which harms our growth.

I hope to hear of other projects in the city that people have knowledge of that I am unaware of and welcome even rumors. For instance, I have a friend with ties to sources in the city and he has stated that they are working towards Marquette Mall being demolished with the city claiming emanate domain. Whether it is substantial I don't know but it is certainly conceivable and necessary. He also claimed that the mall doubled the rent of Applebee's and that is why they exited the city. I hope Michigan City does not work to just become Valparaiso redux which I fear is the idea. Michigan City has a unique opportunity to become more South Bend like with major developments. We have almost double the Sq. Mileage of Valpo and La Porte. The problem is Michigan City is largely underdeveloped. We have large swaths of land primed for mixed use projects. Cleveland Ave. for one has the potential to be even more prominent with a greater density than Franklin Street yet it has attracted no interest from what I can glean. The sign for "Cleveland Crossing" has been up for 8-10 years. I would also like to see Michigan City attract more authentic ethnic restaurants and other businesses to give more of a big city feel by offering something for everyone and widening the demographics rather than just being a high-end mono-cultural boutique city like Valpo. A market research company suggested Michigan City also attract a college campus somewhere downtown to give a "university feel" to the North End. Either PNC, Ivy Tech or I.U. That would be an excellent idea to bolster growth.

[Hypnotic]

They just broke ground on this new $20 million senior assisted living facility by 'Vermilion Acquisitions' on U.S. 35 across from the Kia dealership. Not that the people would know seeing the News-Dispatch is worthless. It's so typical with it's 4 stories, lack of architectural competency and a 55' roof height making this another version of Microtel, Country Inn and Suites and the new Hampton Inn. As with all the aforementioned projects and along with the new Franciscan hospital going up on I-94 these buildings are god-awful. I wish they both would have scrapped the L shape and just built 8 and 10 story buildings with much better design elements. For nearly $200 million the new Franciscan Alliance hospital could have become the tallest hospital in Northwest Indiana. If they would have reduced the footprint and went upward similar to LaPorte Hospital they could have conceivably reached 12-16 stories which would be a towering presence along the interstate and would have given Michigan City a regional distinction and recognition that was far reaching and extremely inspiring for new future investors.


They are in the later stages of planning with the new "Elston's Legacy" Apartments on the former Memorial Hospital property which are allegedly "upscale" rentals that have 40 units with ground-level hidden parking garages and retail fronting Pine St and open space. From what I am hearing and seeing they will look almost exactly like the above image of the assisted living center or very similar to Valpo's "Uptown East" 4 story apartments for students which are again abysmal and uninspiring. The materials will be cheap brick, block and flexicore as stated by the developer Paul Dresden.

Craig Phillips and company from trends I see taking place are only interested in making Michigan City into Valpo 2.0

These are examples of small-unit apartment buildings Michigan City should strive to bring to it's downtown rather than carbon copies of the lifeless projects that have sprung up around Valparaiso and Notre Dame Universities which is also exactly what Portage is planning to erect in the coming years.








The above images are the type of buildings and design level the city should be striving to develop and the minimal standards they should hold any architects to. These are prime locations but I digress. We will get boring run of the mill 4/5 stories at most and ground-floor retail buildings with value engineered to death materials and the most elementary architecture. Requiring the standard illustrated in the images above would give Michigan City a major edge over the competition and solidify itself as offering the most iconic and premier downtown living space on the market in Northwest Indiana and Southwest Michigan. A development with 4-6 of these-type buildings would offer a luxury lifestyle with amenities not available anywhere else in Northwest Indiana and Southwest Michigan and at a much cheaper cost of living. This density would produce heavy foot-traffic to the 'Arts-District,' Lighthouse Mall and lake. This is extremely doable, there is a market. Michigan City must do the marketing and recruitment work with the right master developer and offer to help with funding of infrastructure and offer tax abatements. This would definitely give Michigan City a vast leap beyond the competing Portage/Valpo/South Bend-Mishawaka/Elkhart who are all boasting their own thorough revitalization plans. This would create a "Transit Oriented Development/District" on a scale that is unseen outside of Chicago.

There is no market saturation and Michigan City would fill a mountainous void with these high-end developments and here we have very modern urban designs made of high-end urban materials like steel, concrete and glass curtain walls with facade material and massing variance in the mid-rise 8-12 story range which would flourish in tandem with the NICTD double tracking and the current migration trends of people fleeing the Chicago Burbs.

Our potential far exceeds that of our neighbors and it's up to us to communicate it and not settle for average or mundane. The City's investment in raising test scores and partnering with colleges is working and investments in the technology sector to diversify the economy is in the works to replace the living wage manufacturing jobs that have long been gone and Michigan City on it's current course will have a significant number of residents to perform these intellectual jobs and thus, will require a higher standard of housing which could help add viability to like projects outside of uber-rich Chicagoan's looking for second homes and ex-burbians searching for a lower cost of living.


The City is spending millions to adopt these studies like the 421 South Franklin Plan and the award winning Lake Michigan Gateway Implementation Strategy but they are lacking any additional or original vision what-so-ever. They are simply copying letter by letter every recommendation within the documents and failing to attract or implement any ideas from developers with a contradictory vision for the North and South Ends. These studies while helpful should have been used only as rough-guides rather than actual blue-prints as the city is treating them. Franklin Square is filled with massive grey fields and empty corner lots/fields while the city is doing nothing to bring in dense development to these areas and can't even fill all the empty storefronts currently vacant.

I have sources who are tasked with developing the property of the former police station and News Dispatch building after demolition and its no secret the plan is for a 10 story hotel atop a 4 story covered parking structure so it will probably stand in the 150-180 ft. range with the purpose being a full-service high-end hotel providing lake views if financing is secured and a tenant is found. The company is already working on other projects in the city and has a solid track record but they have never planned, designed or built a high-rise before so I am skeptical.

I was very positive and highly encouraged by the millions the city is investing in redeveloping the majority of the city but with the money being invested the return on investment from a design and wow standpoint have all just been huge value engineered missed opportunities like the Michigan Boulevard revitalization that missed the mark on so many levels it's laughable. The new police station is another swing and miss with it's location and site plan. Building it into a hill to hide 40% of the building is ridiculous and facing west on the lot is pitiful. The best angles of the building are invisible to traffic or pedestrians and you have to drive into a residential neighborhood to see it's true size, shape and value. I will say the design is actually note-worthy however but indeed wasted.

If Michigan City really plans on becoming the"premier lakefront destination with regional tourism" they better ditch the bland, cookie-cutter uninspiring low-rise developments and actually demand a certain quality of architecture that is relevant if not game-changing and they need buildings with more height to view the lake. You can literally go to Valpo, Portage, Mishawaka and (or) any number of other lakefront cities to see the package Michigan City is currently engineering. I thought they were serious about setting themselves apart and offering an experience like nothing else in the Wisconsin-Indiana-Illinois area with cutting edge architecture, mid and high rise developments as laid out by Lohan Andersen and major attractions with year-round capabilities. It is still early days for all of this but the path they are on is just regurgitated Valpo/Portage/South Bend/Mishawaka gentrified, suburban corniness and naivety when they have an opportunity to build a dense urban core with avant garde eateries, shops and cafe's. High-end dining and a walkable downtown with a blend of mixed-use mid and high rise buildings that offer a unique street-level experience found in metropolises where the people live/work and of course bring in tourism dollars in the millions.

Tracy Cross killed the city building high-rises with a negative feasibility study performed in the middle of the worst recession since the great depression. No effort on behalf of the city to take a new look in this climate with the projected $1 billion in public and private investment coming into downtown after the NICTD double track takes 45 minutes off of the Chicago commute. I know perfectly well in adition to my other proposals for the city it could also support a signature 25-30 story mixed-use high-rise tower with office, retail, rentals and condos on the city's North end along with the planned 14 story hotel. There is a large enough leakage from Chicago's suburbs and enough second-home buyers along with upper-middle class MC day-trippers that would jump at the chance to live/work/stay in a 300 ft. tower with great views of Chicago and the lake.

Rant over. I hope the powers that be read this post and take note and really give it consideration while asking themselves, does the plans they are unfolding and the scale, quality and design of their developments they approve and cheerlead really represent Michigan City's goals of becoming a World-Class city regionally or even nationally beloved and treasured. If they are honest with themselves I think they would say no. I do not want to see the city falling into the trap of building what's quick, cheap, common and feasible for the moment when they could build this city to become the industry leading destination well into the future with the right urban planning and investing in marquee projects on a much larger scale and scope than their current vision allows.