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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]

Interesting thoughts about the architecture. While I would be much happier to see unique building done, take the library for example, but a part of me is just thrilled to see some progress.

I am eagerly awaiting the renderings for these 4 "upscale" apartment buildings but according to the developer Paul Dresden the materials being used already tells me what they will undoubtedly look like. Though I do agree with you that it is nice to finally see some progress. I guess even if they are horribly commercially designed and insignificant it beats an empty field. Though it must be stated that this is an almost negligent under-utilization of a prime downtown site.

Another trap they will fall into is making the four buildings identical. In a modern urban environment, these buildings should vary in look and preferably not even resemble one another while they all possess the same high standard in materials, quality and design. I would like to see contrast with each building offering something the others do not and thus providing a variety of styles. floorplans and amenities giving the purchasers options and a debate yet they couldn't go wrong with choosing any of them.


Example:

This is how I would envision a mid-rise upscale apartment development to offer real 'world-class' design in an urban setting to create an exclusive atmosphere and raise demand. The city must defeat "value engineering" which creeps up in every project the city partakes in at all costs if we are to be seriously posturing to become THE 'exclusive and premier' lake-front destination.




Building four units similar to these in a dense single site would look amazing juxtaposed against one another and create an absolutely awesome backdrop for pedestrians and motorists with as I said, no sacrifices in quality for the tenants and each building would be unique in it's own right independent of the other buildings. People with money would flock to this site in droves as it would be leaps and bounds above what our region is offering. As I write this I am sure we will get four identical, cookie-cutter precast and brick boxes with no styling and architecturally lame. I wish the Redevelopment Commission would see this post and take it iunder serious advisement.


The thing that irks me about this process though is that the city has spent millions on studies over the years and the "Lohan Andersen Trail Creek Corridor Plan", "The Andrews University North End Plan" and the "Downtown Action Agenda by Hyett Palma" all highly stressed the city demanding nothing less than "unique" and "world class" architecture with high-end materials for mixed-use, mid and high rise developments.

I believe that the Redevelopment Commission is ignoring this critical element of innovative and stunning design with high-end materials while settling for what our neighbors/competitors are already doing. Which is unfortunately, cheap, uninspiring and bland.

There has been multiple master-plans for the 6.5 acre Memorial Hospital site which called for office, retail, condos, rentals, an Ivy Tech or PNC campus along with open spaces in a mid-rise village community.

The Elston's Legacy development is only 2 of the 6.5 acres so maybe and hopefully the city utilizes the rest of the site in accordance with what the experts have all proposed.

The library design is absolutely amazing and the legendary Helmut Jahn is one of my favorite architects. I would like to see the city commission work from other and more extraordinary talents like Frank Gehry, Jeanne Gang or Robert AM Stern for example, for the larger developments like the mixed-use high-rise tower proposed on the former News Dispatch and Police Station sites and the new, soon to come, "Entertainment District" and riverwalk.

The Mayor said NICTD will be building a "state of the art" train station for Michigan City on 11th street but from every proposal rendering I have seen they are simply renovating the already pre-existing old station in some form and is far from "state of the art". I hope that these were just "placeholder" designs to give residents and stakeholders something to gaze over as they are going into advanced design and engineering phases in 2018 so I'm sure nothing is settled yet and the Mayor is of course privy to information the public isn't so hopefully an entirely new construction project will take place. A Jeanne Gang designed train station would make national headlines for Michigan City. Everything she does is mesmerizing and a public work of art. We would be on the architectural map with a Studio Gang designed public transit hub/train station.

I fear that those of us in Michigan City who truly study, appreciate and live and breathe urban planning/development have entirely different definitions and expectations of what constitutes "unique", "significant", "world-class", "visionary", "upscale" or "high-end" than the Redevelopment Commission and the Mayor believes along with the majority of developers who have approached the city to date. I believe that they are under the impression that every half-baked idea that looks like progress will be swooned over and gobbled up by the residents as we praise their efforts and ask for more mediocrity due to our long battle with stagnation and disinvestment.

The city has one chance to get this right and is going to be investing $10's of millions in public funds and in some cases giving away land to spur these developments. When they are actively and purposely throwing around marketing words like, "world class" "best lakefront destination in the region"..."Big city look and feel"..."an unrivaled experience" "the premier Midwest destination" and "Atlantic City of the Midwest" they better bring in some people who have vast experience in large-scale urban planning and architectural understanding & appreciation.

Lastly, the city is largely marketing to rich Chicagoan's who are surrounded daily by perhaps the most eclectic collection of buildings in the most architecturally significant city on the planet. These are people who understand and appreciate exclusivity and will pay the premiums which accompanies prominent and visionary design. You can't offer up 4/5 story boxes with pre-cast and brick facades with no styling what-so-ever and refer to them as "upscale" or pretend to be fulfilling a supposed vision of offering the greatest resort destination and premier lakefront city in the region.