The city of Gary, Indiana, has its sights on bonds for several projects in a planned revitalization effort.
Bond financing is likely for the Gary Metro Center station redevelopment project, and the construction of a convention center in Indiana's Lake County.
Notre Dame's School of Architecture is working with the city on the revitalization, conducting community listening and public urban planning sessions through its Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative. The HCRI will then work with Gary officials to develop a 10-year action plan for revamping the downtown area.
"This partnership is a unique opportunity to create a new master plan for our great city," Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said
The city is in the blight eradication phase of the revitalization effort, said Christopher Harris, executive director of redevelopment for Gary. Harris said the city is working to determine the size and scope of the Metro Center project in consultation with the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, Gary residents and Notre Dame.
Preliminary plans call for a multi-modal transportation center surrounded by a mixed-use transportation-oriented development.
"It is likely that bond financing will be involved," Harris said.
The city's most recent debt appears to be unrated Series 2019 revenue anticipation notes that matured in 2020, according to postings on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's
The downtown revitalization effort also involves single-family and workforce housing. Harris noted, with support from the Indiana Finance Authority, development projects within the Gary Metro Transit Development District will be eligible for low-interest bond financing.
"In a market where interest rates make it difficult for new construction, the state of Indiana and our local Regional Development Authority are taking the lead in offering the necessary financial tools to encourage investment across Northwest Indiana," he said. "Gary plans to leverage its federally funded [American Rescue Plan Act] resources to encourage new construction, including housing within its transit development district boundaries."
In addition to creating the Transit Development District, Harris said, Gary is using tax increment financing and has created federal Opportunity Zones to boost the downtown revitalization.
"The redevelopment of Gary is critical to Gary's tax base," he said. "Without a functional downtown, the city struggles with providing basic services throughout the balance of its neighborhoods."
Walkable, mixed-use central business districts tend to yield the best tax return to a city's general fund, Harris noted. And while downtown Gary offers a multitude of public transit options and access to Indiana Dunes National Park, it has struggled to attract the economic activity that its location and history suggest it is capable of drawing.
"While Gary has seen many plans over the course of the last several decades that didn't take off, we are living in a special moment and this time has the absolute potential to be different," Marianne Cusato, a School of Architecture professor and director of the HCRI, told The Bond Buyer. "Vision keepers are in place with elected officials, especially the mayor and with the city staff. … Federal and state funding is available to support the vision. Private investors are interested in being part of the process. And perhaps most importantly, a new generation of Gary residents are stepping up to help shape the future of their city."
In a statement, Melton pointed to the state legislature's passage of SB0434 last year as paving the way for the revitalization effort. Among other things, it includes $12 million of blight elimination funding for Gary.
Melton became mayor in late 2023 after representing state Senate District 3 for seven years and was the primary sponsor of SB0434.
Besides creating a blighted property demolition fund,
SB0434 also establishes a Lake County economic development and convention fund, which will hold deposits, appropriations and bond proceeds. Money in the fund may be used to build and equip a convention center in Lake County and to pay the principal and interest on any bonds issued by the Regional Development Authority to finance the convention center's development.
As Gary looks to seize the moment, Harris said, Melton has set the city up for a successful revitalization.
"His efforts are why Gary has the downtown TDD and financing available to spark development within the TDD," he said.
Cusato noted downtown is "historically disinvested": most of the buildings are lost and those that remain are in varying states of disrepair. The role of the HCRI and city leaders is to work within fiscal realities, she said, and the reality is recovery will be costly.
"This recovery will require federal and state grants to upgrade infrastructure, nonprofit participation to help bridge the gap between cost of housing and wages [and] private investment to develop new buildings and businesses," she said.
Affordable housing is a top priority, she added. "In the most economically vibrant cities, wages have not kept up with the cost of housing; in Gary, this issue is even more acute," Cusato said. "The goal of this partnership is to establish a vision and action plan that takes all of these variables into consideration so the plan put forward leads to positive growth."
Harris said the next step is a public engagement process, which will be developed in early August; the final draft will be made public during the city's Broadway Summit, which takes place August 28, 29 and 30.
"The city of Gary is poised for growth," he said, pointing to the city's international airport, highway and tollway access,
