Gary will have more than $160,000 to make a plan to rejuvenate the former City Methodist Church a reality.
The Gary Redevelopment Commission was named a $163,333 grant winner by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is splitting $5 million among various cities as part of its Knight Cities Challenge that helps fund local projects.
The Redevelopment Commission will use the money to begin a years-long project meant to turn the one-time City Methodist Church, 577 Washington St., into a public attraction. Officials plan to use money from a grant to begin work on reconverting the site in downtown Gary to an outdoor, public garden of sorts.
Long vacant and crumbling, the building's roof has caved in and most of its windows are shattered. But its outer walls remain intact and the structure is clearly identifiable as a one-time church.
That has city officials thinking the building's interior could be converted into a garden that the public would be able to enjoy, according to the plan.
The structure currently is surrounded by fence to keep the public out, and Sam Salvesen, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer who has been working for the Redevelopment Commission for the past year, said the grant money would be used to begin the work of stabilizing the structure.
"This is going to be an elaborate project that will take years to complete," said Salvesen, who along with fellow volunteer Alex Koerner wrote the grant proposal.
Part of the agreement with Knight is that the Redevelopment Commission will pay the cost of an engineering study that will determine the structure's physical soundness and what would need to be done to bolster the structure for the long-term.
A contract for that study is likely to be awarded later this year, officials said.
Beyond that, Salvesen said the Redevelopment Commission would be seeking grants and donations from other sources to cover the costs of the project in future years.
The City Methodist Church, opened in 1925, church officials decided to close in October 1975. officials said. A 1997 fire caused much of the damage that remains today.
Since being abandoned, the structure's has been be used in various films, including the "Transformers" films and the Netflix series "Sense 8."