[Southsider2k12]

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/more-th...136bae817f.html

Michigan City is poised to take off in 2024 with more than $400 million in private-sector investment flowing into the city.

Clarence Hulse, the executive director of Economic Development Corporation Michigan City, Indiana, said the city is coming off an "awesome" year filled with high-profile megaprojects likely to transform the downtown and community at large.

Developers are investing $100 million into the Franklin at 11th Street Station project that will build more housing around the new South Shore Line station after the Double Track project shortens commute times to Chicago. Other major projects include a $24.4 million renovation at The Blue Chip Casino, a $3 million relocation of Burn Em Brewing, a $6 million Bay Logistics warehouse, a $3 million investment at the former Federal Mogul windshield wiper plant and the $280 million SoLa project downtown.

SoLa, short for “South of the Lake," will feature two boutique hotels, a rooftop pool, upscale restaurants, bars, stores, luxury condos and townhomes.

The 14-story 628,000-square-foot building will feature state-of-the-art modern architecture, such as a deck with views of Michigan that's like a donut hole in the middle of the glassy, uber-chic facade.

"The really big one is the $280 million SoLa project next to city hall," Michigan City Redevelopment Commission member Don Babcock said. "It will have two Wyndham hotels and condominiums near Lake Michigan. The 11th Street project is going to bring a new apartment complex by the South Shore Station. The parking garage will be open there soon. Those are just the two big ones downtown. There are also smaller scale projects like Burn 'Em Brewing moving to East Route 12 by Blue Chip Casino."

Michigan City is benefiting from the Indiana Dunes being declared the 61st national park and will benefit from the state prison and NIPSCO generating station being shut down, Babcock said.

"The community is coming together behind all these projects," he said. "There's new investment fixing up properties and painting homes. There's a new administration coming in."

The Double Track project adding a second rail line to speed up the commute to Chicago will soon be finished.

[Southsider2k12]

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/commercial-...y-fulton-market

For some 25 years until 2021, Sterling Bay co-founder Scott Goodman had a vacation home in Michiana, near the Indiana and Michigan border.

“We would drive though Michigan City and wonder, 'Why isn’t this a suburb of Chicago the way it should be?' ”

Then several things happened. The South Shore train line added a second track that will cut the ride to Chicago from Michigan City by at least 30 minutes. Then the pandemic made remote work routine. The local power plant, perched on valuable lakefront land, is slated for decommissioning. Officials announced they are closing the local jail.

Suddenly Michigan City was looking like it could become a suburb of Chicago.

So when real estate entrepreneur Barry Schain suggested he and Goodman partner on a luxury hotel and condo complex on Michigan City's lakefront, it didn’t take Goodman, founding principal of Farpoint Development in Chicago, long to say yes.

Goodman, who helped develop Fulton Market when he was with Sterling Bay, is betting big on Michigan City, co-developing a 14-story hotel, condo and retail building on an empty lakefront lot there.

Goodman, who also developed McDonald's global headquarters and Google's Midwest headquarters in Chicago, is leading YAB Development Partners, which will soon break ground on the 628,000-square-foot, $280 million SoLa project in downtown Michigan City, where passersby might recall seeing the “You Are Beautiful” sculpture.

Plans call for two boutique hotels by Wyndham offering 235 rooms (some suites and some with bunk beds), a rooftop pool overlooking Lake Michigan, 174 condos (60 of which will be vacation rentals), 18 townhouses, upscale restaurants, bars and 25,000 square feet of retail space.