A plan unveiled Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015, proposes massive changes to the area of Elkhart east of the Elkhart River, centered on Jackson Boulevard east to Goshen Avenue. It's one of the elements of Innovate Indiana, the plan put forth by Elkhart, St. Joseph and Marshall county boosters to secure a portion of Indiana Regional Cities Initiative money. The accompanying graphic, pulled from the report, shows the proposed changes, including new athletic fields in the zone, 400 new housing units, relocation of Martin's Super Market and a St. Joseph River marina near where Jackson Boulevard meets Goshen Avenue. (Regional Cities of Northern Indiana)
ELKHART — A three-county coalition of northern Indiana boosters is proposing more than $700 million in investment in 30-plus projects in the region as part of a state initiative meant to bolster regional development.
Much of the proposed investment would take place in the South Bend area. But the plan unveiled Tuesday for Elkhart, St. Joseph and Marshall counties also calls for $127.25 million in investment to transform what’s dubbed Elkhart’s Market District, centered along Jackson Boulevard east of the Elkhart River to Goshen Avenue.
The project includes a creating a marina on the St. Joseph River, relocating a shopping center, developing hundreds of new residential units, building a new community health facility and establishing of a sports center and outdoor multiuse sports fields, according to the plan, called Innovate Indiana.
The proposal, put forward by Regional Cities of Northern Indiana, is one of seven plans submitted by boosters from regional zones around Indiana hoping to secure a piece of $84 million in Indiana Regional Cities Initiative money earmarked by state leaders for economic development. As such, it’s more of a blueprint at this stage and is hardly a done deal.
At any rate, it offers an ambitious vision of what the area east of the Elkhart River could become. The plans calls for:
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