A 3,000-acre intermodal transportation hub proposed for LaPorte County has moved closer to becoming a reality.
Chris Davey, president of Grubb-Ellis Cressy and Everett, said his company has secured the needed land in southern LaPorte County, near Union Mills. The company has the land under contract and has the $1 billion to $2 billion needed to finalize the deal.
Davey said he's just waiting to get commitments from railroad companies to make sure they'd use the intermodal, and he said he's meeting with officials about rezoning and annexation issues.
The project has been shrouded in secrecy for more than a year, as sites across the Midwest were considered for the sprawling facility that will play a substantial role in the shipment of goods across the nation.
"It's still not a done deal yet," Davey said, adding, "we're close to that now."
Davey also envisions having massive storage areas in the intermodal for companies to store their timber, cars and agricultural products while they await transport.
"Who knows who would take advantage of this?" he said. "We've been dealing with a lot of trucking, shipping and railroad companies."
The idea for the intermodal has been in the works for several years, but Davey said with the acquisition of the land, they can hope to start construction as early as next year.
Regional and local economic groups are pushing for the intermodal to materialize because they said it could bring many jobs and economic development to the area.
The Northwest Indiana Workforce Board anticipates 2,000 jobs or more.
"Any time you have a place where you could bring together trains or trucks, those are pretty high-powered jobs. It's one of those jobs that can't be exported," said Tim Sanders, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. "A lot of traffic going through your region is generally regarded as a good thing for retailers."
There would be an influx of people and a need for housing and local government services, he said. Warehouses, foreign trade zones and value-added manufacturing may also crop up, he added.
"Clearly, it would bring to the region some major new investments," said Leigh Morris, mayor of LaPorte. "Having such a facility in the region makes the region more attractive to other development, like manufacturing operations that want to be close to the source of supply.
"It will be probably one of the biggest economic boosts for this area that we have had, arguably, since Bethlehem Steel came."