Michigan City, Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), and Flaherty & Collins Properties are pleased to announce an $80 million mixed-use development as part of a three-way development partnership.

Flaherty & Collins Properties will develop the entire City block bounded by 10th and 11th Streets on the north and south sides, and Franklin and Pine Streets on the west and east.

With a placeholder name of ?€œ11th Street Central,?€? the 12-story high-rise mixed-use development will feature a new train station for the South Shore Line stop at 11th Street, 208 luxury residential apartment homes, over 10,000 square feet of commercial space, and a 558-space parking garage.

?€œFasten your seatbelts,?€? said Mayor of Michigan City, Duane Parry. ?€œWe are catapulting Michigan City through the present, right into the future. Get ready, this partnership is driving the future of Northwest Indiana.?€?

?€œTime to the job market is what matters to our commuters,?€? said South Shore Line?€™s President Michael Noland. ?€œThe Double Track improvements will make Michigan City an easy 67-minute commute from downtown Chicago. With the additional trains that will be added and the reduction in travel time to and from Chicago, we expect to more than triple our daily ridership out of Michigan City. Projects like 11th Street Central will not only leverage off of the $16 million NICTD is contributing to the project, but will also further support our ridership. This type of economic opportunity is precisely why our 4-county region, the State of Indiana, led by Governor Holcomb, and the Federal Transportation Administration funded the $649 million Double Track project.?€?

?€œWhen the RDA went to local, state and federal officials to assemble the funding package for commuter rail expansion in Northwest Indiana, we promised that the two projects would bring more than $2.5 billion in development to the Region,?€? said Sherri Ziller, President and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. ?€œBetween Munster, Hammond and now Michigan City, more than $250 million worth of development projects have already been announced, and that?€™s with the official start of construction still a month away. RDA is currently finalizing Transit Development Districts in communities along both existing line and the West Lake expansion that will take development, and the Region, to the next level.?€?

A first for the greater Chicago metropolitan region, the project is a Joint Development, as defined by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). An FTA Joint Development allows a private developer to undertake a public responsibility, in this case, the construction of a train station and garage to NICTD standards. It is also the first parking garage to specifically serve South Shore Line passengers.

?€œWe could not be more thrilled with this unique partnership with NICTD and Michigan City,?€? says Brian Prince, Vice President of Development at Flaherty & Collins Properties. ?€œThis project will be huge for the region, attract and keep young professionals in Michigan City, and making it more attractive for existing employers and potential new employers. It will have a tremendous impact on the community, with over an estimated $150 million economic impact in the first 5 years.?€?

The name 11th Street Central is being used, at least temporarily, because it conveys and emphasizes that Michigan City is at the center of Lake Michigan?€™s southern shore, serves as a connection point between South Bend and Chicago, and sits at the merger point of several historic and arts districts in Michigan City: the Uptown Arts District, the Historic Franklin St. Commercial District, and the Elston Grove Historic District.

A Review Committee ?€“ representing a meaningful cross-section of Michigan City, including public and private leaders and residents voted unanimously in selecting Flaherty & Collins Properties. Their vote to select Flaherty & Collins was unanimous.
The project aims to break ground in the summer of 2023 and have a new transit station open by May of 2024 and the apartments complete by spring of 2025.

The $80 million mixed-use project planned for downtown Michigan City is coming into focus.



Representatives of developer Flaherty & Collins laid out plans to the Michigan City Common Council.



Dubbed “The Franklin at 11th Street Station,” the project features a 12-story residential building with 220 units, next to about 6,000 square feet for commercial space and a restaurant. A connected 540-space parking garage will have a rooftop garden.



The new Double Track runs in front of the red brick and limestone structure. The old 11th Street Station façade has been preserved and incorporated into the plan. The building's main lobby will feature design elements reminiscent of an old train station.



Developers say the parking garage will go up first, and units could be available about 18 months from this fall.

building corporation will be formed to finance the $93 million station block development where the new South Shore Line station will be built.

It’s a process similar to that used for major school construction projects. The building corporation technically owns the building and leases it to the intended owner when the bonds are paid off. This allows the government bond rating to be used to lowest-cost financing.

The City Council passed a resolution last week to make this happen.

The station block development is a big project. Brian Prince, vice president of Flaherty & Collins, the developer, put it in perspective.

The $93 million project will have at least $200 million in direct economic impact, he estimated.

That comes in part from bringing new people to the community, who then not only pay rent for their apartments in the new development but also shop in local stores.

A 12-story tower with views of Lake Michigan and a rooftop sky lounge will soon rise over downtown in one of the lakefront city's biggest housing projects in decades and one of the few high-rise housing projects to be built anywhere in Indiana.

Developers broke ground Thursday on the $101 million Franklin at 11th Street Station, a new high-rise mixed-use building and parking garage planned by the new South Shore Line station that's being built at Franklin and 11th streets as part of the double-tracking project that will shorten the commute to Chicago to about 65 minutes. The new building will include more than 5,600 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the first floor.

“The project was originally envisioned as only a parking garage but is now another platform for housing and amenities to our residents, guests and South Shore riders,” Economic Development Corporation Michigan City Executive Director Clarence Hulse said.