GARY | Developers with support from Mayor Rudy Clay want to build a $56 million commuter gateway for the South Shore that would include a 1,500-space parking garage, stores and restaurants.
Gary South Shore Development LLC will outline its plans today before the
Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority at its 10 a.m. meeting.
"We are ready to do anything that would enhance the service of those passengers who use the trains on a daily basis," said Vance Kenney, a partner in the development company.
Construction would start in 2008, and the station might be ready for use in 2009, according to a construction funding schedule filed with the RDA. The Gary Gateway Commuter Station would be located just east of where Interstate 65 originates at U.S. 20.
In a letter to Gary South Shore Development and provided to the RDA, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay commends the developers for their vision and states he "heartily" endorses the project.
Gary South Shore Development told Clay the only help it would need from the city is tax increment financing and minor infrastructure improvements.
The South Shore stop at the Gary Metro Center as well as the Miller stop at Lake Street would be closed once the new station is up and running, Kenney said.
The new station's location adjacent to I-65 and the
Indiana Toll Road ramps would open up the South Shore to commuters from all directions. It would complement and not collide with plans to extend the South Shore line to Valparaiso and Lowell, Kenney said.
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District staff members have met with the developers and see the station as a way for many commuters to shave time off the Gary-to-Chicago South Shore trip, said John Parsons, NICTD director of planning and marketing. It also would make it easier for people to board trains.
High-level platforms, which speed loading and unloading times, are part of the plan. Currently, neither the Miller stop nor the Metro Center have high-level platforms, Parsons said. The two stations to be consolidated also offer only a combined 416 parking spaces.
Parsons said shuttle bus service from the Metro Center would ensure access to trains for Gary residents coming on
Gary Public Transportation Corp. buses.
The heart of the Gateway station would be a 24,000-square-foot open-air pavilion. Boarding platforms also would be covered.
Kenney did not say how much of the $56 million cost of the Gateway the development group expects the RDA to fund. He said financing will come from a variety of sources.
Gary South Shore Development, which will be doing business as Gateway Partners, is owned by Kenney, Mark Titus and Bill Samples.
Titus is a New Orleans-based developer and partner in Garner Services LLC. Samples is based in Nashville, Tenn. Kenney is executive vice president of Advance Construction Services, Merrillville.
They have proposed a public-private partnership approach to developing the project.
RBC Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, has provided the RDA with a detailed borrowing plan for financing the project.
The cost of the 12-acre site on the north side of U.S. 20 would be about $2.7 million, according to a memo to RDA members from RDA Executive Director Tim Sanders. It now houses an abandoned hotel and strip club.
The parking garage would cost an estimated $20 million, according to estimates provided by Gary South Shore Development. The train station and platforms would cost an estimated $9.9 million.