Michigan City to copy Valparaiso's downtown plaza

Stan Maddux Times Correspondent

MICHIGAN CITY — Michigan City is moving forward with plans for a plaza to enhance the revitalization of its downtown.

Two of the few buildings that remain empty will be torn down to create space for its construction, which probably won't be finished until next year, Mayor Ron Meer said.

"If things stay on schedule, there could be some demolition work yet this winter," Meer said.

Hitchcock Design Group of Chicago has already presented preliminary plans for the plaza at Seventh and Franklin streets near the former Warren Building converted last year into living space for more than 40 artists.

The idea is to generate traffic by having live music and other events at the plaza on more than 50,000 square feet of open space.

Plans call for amenities like an elevated stage and a portable ice skating rink to be replaced with outdoor tables and chairs from spring to fall.

A building for concessions and restrooms, along with a fountain, fire pits and decorative lights are included in the plans.

Even before the plaza is completed, Meer said it's possible the space could start being used this year to help stage events like the Taste of Michigan City and boat parade as part of the annual Great Lakes Grand Prix powerboat races on Lake Michigan.

Meer said a plaza is among the many economic development strategies being followed to make Michigan City a higher quality place to be.

"Often people will say, 'There's lots of things to do in Michigan City. What about jobs?'" said Meer.

"When you're increasing the quality of life and investing in your community, that's how you get companies and businesses and corporations wanting to invest in your city," he said.

The planned plaza seems to have strong support among downtown business owners, who feel the traffic it would bring is much better than having two vacant buildings that could be too far gone to ever rehabilitate.

"They've sat there empty for decades," said Jesse Cundiff, owner of Hoity Toity, a home decor store at Eighth and Franklin streets.

Cundiff, who once had interest in buying the structures until he went inside, said they're beyond repair unless a purchaser with the financial resources necessary for such an undertaking comes along, and that could take years.

The tear down of 701-705 Franklin and building of the new plaza was approved last night by a 5-3 vote of the Historical Board.

The wreckers started taking down both the old MCPD station and the old News Dispatch building.

Any truth to the rumor a gas station, another bank and a Chik-fil-A are going up on this site?

The rumor is high end mixed use development.

There is now a $9 millon project in the works to lower HWY 20 and build a runway extension overpass for the Michigan City Munipal airport so corporate jets could land.

Why not just land the jets at the Gary Airport and take the 40 minute drive to and from Michigan City. Their has been a multitude of commercial airliners that utilized the Gary airport in the past that have all come and gone.

I recommend the Mich City redevelopment team take a weekend drive through the Indiana towns of Carmel and Columbus to help them form some idea of architectural vision. Then maybe pass through the S. Indy neighborhoods of Fountain Square and Bates-Hendrix to see how old home restoration mixed with modern style construction infill on vacant lots can revive old middle-worker class neighborhoods.
You don't have to look outside Indiana to see things being done right.

Great point.

Columbus is very unique as they had a billionaire benefactor who paid to commission renowned architects for public buildings and structures. Having said that, Michigan City sealed their fate when they looked no further than Valpo to hire their creative and development director. Was there any doubt what he was going to try to achieve in Michigan City? When I watch these meetings I laugh every time Craig Philips "recommends" the commission use Company "X" that he is familiar with from his Valparaiso days. Which is almost every project.

The city uses Holladay Properties for 2 business parks. How did they land another development deal after Lifeworks boasts a grand total of 3 businesses after 11 years. This is prime property along I-94 and it's a ghost town. Holladay is also in the final 3 potential master developers for redevelopment of the former police station site. All of their buildings, being a design/build firm are absolutely the same cookie-cutter designs, are value engineered to the hilt and are being built all over Northwest Indiana.

They have projects in Crown Point, Merrillville, Hobart, Valpo, Portage , Michigan City and La Porte. Every City is littered with the same lifeless quality they produce. A Mid to high Rise hotel with "lake views" is far beyond the scope of their work. They have no high end buildings in their national portfolio. The city uses the same few engineering firms like Kennig Keast Collabrative, Global and Haas for 99% of projects. The Michigan Blvd. project is an underwhelming mess. The median height and design, the plants and flowers, the traffic lights, street signs, intersections, etc, is all bad. For the money they spent one would expect something similar to the grand Chicago avenues.

The city needs to take a drive through Chicago to see how to develop. The interactive lighted structures along Michigan, State, Roosevelt and Wacker alone make for an amazing streetscape experience. Franklin Square is a joke. The decorations, "art displays" landscaping and streetviews miss on every level. Not to mention there is no night life in the downtown what-so-ever. All these liquor licenses and yet we only see run of the mill corner bars downtown. The Zorn Brewery is nice but way off the beaten path.

5 years to develop a 20,000 sq, ft. plaza? That is astonishing.

Woodruff and Son (surprise , Surprise) has broken ground on the Elston's Legacy apartment development on 6th & Pine. Heavy equipment is on the site and areas have been staked and the soil has been leveled. I'm sure this phase will last until late spring before we see any progress upward.

It's a shame these buildings were downsized from 44 high-end units to a laughable 18. The floor count was lowered from 4 floors to 3 as well. I've said multiple times this was a golden opportunity swung at and missed by the underachieving Redevelopment Commission and City Council. Of course no renderings have been released publicly but an architectural vision it will not be. The buildings will be built in phases with the following building not being built until the preceding reaches full capacity. This is dubious as I'm sure in this economy they could secure financing with lease agreements in the 30 to 40% range. It seems the developer is assuming 0 risk.

Paul Dresden pulled a major bait-N-switch from the initial announcement. This area is one of if not the best downtown location for luxury living. I would have liked to have seen 2 mixed use buildings in the 12 to 15 story range accompanied by 3, 4 and 5 level condos with ground floor retail. This site could have been an exclusive urban village drawing residents from all over the region.

I hope the city at some point builds a dense Brownstone/Greystone development within the downtown. I would be a buyer for sure. I read the article above about Michigan City struggling to attract young people. This is obvious, there are no living wage jobs, modern housing stock, night-life, universities, trade-schools, walk-ability or a dense urban core among many other factors.

The city claims to be serious about becoming a world class destination, every official says the planning is over its a time for action etc, and then they announce they are annexing 500 acres for homes and warehouses?!? Really? How about an auto plant, or a mill? Or some other union shop that hires trade workers? Toyota was just scouting Indiana locations, Amazon and others....I never heard one word about La Porte County or specifically Michigan City throwing any package together to become a possible destination.

I am a Union Millwright and I work all over the country. La Porte County and Michigan City is far, far behind similar locations in the Midwest. I worked in Michigan at the Lake Orion GM plant and that area is light years ahead of Northwest Indiana when it comes to manufacturing jobs, housing, roadways, colleges, shopping districts, professional services etc. Rochester Hills alone has multiple international companies.

Michigan city needs to get serious and start upping the ante. We need public officials with real experience in urban planning and economic development. We have some crack team with local experience only. Craig Philips, Ron Meer, Rich Murphy, Chuck Oberlie, Don Babcock, Silvestri? We need to scout talent from around the region and country who have been part of landmark developments and who have worked with major architectural and master development firms. What's taking place in Michigan City is so Mickey Mouse that when we are done, it could probably be said that this city and these officials wasted the greatest opportunity in it's history. I'd dust off the Lohan Andersen Trail Creek Plan and start there. Forget a $5 million, 5 year, 20,000 sq. ft. downtown plaza. We have more pressing issues.

Michigan City is the most underdeveloped city I have come across. I would love to hear a number put on it. I would wager that we have at least 5 square miles of undeveloped land within and on the outskirts of our city. We could be a mix of Traverse City/Shaumburg/Naperville and instead we are more or less La Porte with more shops and less living wage jobs.



Above is what Washington Park could be with the right planning and goals in place. The city does not even think on this level. We are 1 hour from an Alpha Global city and we are lucky to get a $2 million dollar pavilion. We are the result of stagnation and the same sacred cows controlling every move in this city for decades. In the 90's we get the 10 story condo tower on the beach and nothing since? nothing? How was that not followed up with more condo and hotel towers, apartments, restaurants, shops, parks, concert venues, a boardwalk, etc.? Now after decades, Hitchcock Design Group does a 20 year Washington Park Master Plan that is completely lackluster and calls for renovating current buildings and facilities and nothing about new private/public development within the park or along the beach like the picture above.

The Lohan Andersen Plan called for Aerial Trams, 3 High Rise towers, dense condo development and that's along a creek. This is Lake Michigan! lmao This is all a very sad joke The city owes the loyal residents who love this city and have stuck by it through the years and have dealt with poverty, high crime, menial work and no educational outlets. We should be on the cusp of a renaissance in this city with the right leadership and years from now we will still see the empty lots and and surface parking lots throughout our downtown. We will still have buildings that should have long been demolished somehow still proudly standing providing the same blight I saw as a child. We will still lose our best and brightest to out of state locations to seek higher education and high pay. We will also see the same tired beachfront with only minimal additions. Our roads will be two-way and our bridges will have giant flags though so that's a bonus, I guess.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the City's most embarrassing and clueless moment this year in modernization and redevelopment by turning down La Porte County's offer to jointly build a new courthouse in Michigan City for $22 million with only $6 million coming from the city. Instead they will now senselessly spend $16 million renovating the current courthouse which inconveniently sits dead in the middle of the intended redevelopment area directly across from a planned mid-rise hotel. Need any further proof of incompetent urban planning in this city? I wouldn't have cared if the money came from my taxes, I would have gladly cheered them demolishing that awful courthouse. Why have a new police station, city hall and courthouse? Nothing like showing outside investors how serious you are when you won't even take risks or contribute to redevelopment outside of infrastructure yourself.

Oh, and the city employing facadism for the new "state of the art" train station, according to Ron Meer is another giant gaffe. That facade is hardly relative, intricate or worth saving. Now we will have some ho-hum design limited in its scope and scale because they must incorporate some contrived historical value piece that no one in the city remotely cares about. Why build an avant garde train station when you can preserve an unsightly history...

I am trying to take ownership of a couple vacant lots that I purchased at tax the recent tax sales an would love to donate them to an organization such as the Wounded Warrior Project, Homes for Vets or homes for our troops which custom builds the home specifically catered to the needs of a disabled veteran and their families.

Would like to try to work with the different service clubs (VFW, DAV, American Legion, Guradian Riders, Wall Gang etc.) and make it happen.



https://www.hfotusa.org/

I am trying to take ownership of a couple vacant lots that I purchased at tax the recent tax sales an would love to donate them to an organization such as the Wounded Warrior Project, Homes for Vets or homes for our troops which custom builds the home specifically catered to the needs of a disabled veteran and their families.

Would like to try to work with the different service clubs (VFW, DAV, American Legion, Guradian Riders, Wall Gang etc.) and make it happen.



https://www.hfotusa.org/

Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County has a pot of money used for Veterans homes. There are income guidelines that have to be met. This affiliate has shared this money with other counties in the past. Contact your local Habitat for Humanity office and they can get in touch with the St. Joseph county office if you desire details.

If I ever take ownership of the lots I would like to try to meet with the different post commanders and leaders of the clubs to see if there is any interest in taking on such a project.

Hardee's (Midwest First Star) has submitted a request for a zoning variance in a B-2 district to construct a building at Franklin and Village Rd. in the lot next to I-Hop. Popeye's has submitted the same request for the property between Starbucks and Fannie May where the small white house sits currently. A source has said Popeye's has backed out however or at least never submitted architectural prints for a building. They were awarded approval to locate in Dunes Plaza near Sonic at the same time Sonic was approved so they are dragging their feet majorly. A location switch and stalling with the building dept.

The construction at Elston's Legacy Apartments on Pine is ridiculously slow. They've been at it for 4 months solid and still nothing vertical. 800 ft. buildings with 10 times the footprint in Chicago have their foundations layed out, drilled, poured, towers cranes erected and the core is rising in less time than this.

$45 Million 10 story condo designed by world class architect Dirk Lohan with 120 units, up-scale roof-top bar/restaurant with lake views and terrace, 7,000 Sq. Ft. ground floor retail. Groundbreaking scheduled for March 2020. Rent only $900-$1,200 for 1 & 2 bedroom units. Kudos to the city for finally getting it right and attracting a developer with vision and ambition while sticking true to their claim of turning Michigan City into a "world class" destination with world class architecture. This is only the beginning but a great example moving forward and the standard they should hold future projects to.