Gary Mayor Rudy Clay is sticking to his guns that the proposed Jackson Family Center could draw even more visitors than original projections by the project's developers.
During a press conference Wednesday, Clay said the completed project could bring up to 1 million people to the city annually. A letter from Joe Jackson and Simon Sahouri, the project's point man, said preliminary research indicated 500,000 to 750,000 visitors a year could come to Gary as a result of the development. City officials did not have a copy of the research referenced on hand Wednesday.
"The people we see every day of the year that's coming in to look at 2300 Jackson St. is mind-boggling," Clay said Thursday referring to Michael Jackson's childhood home.
Add that to Jackson's fan base in the United States and around the world, and there's a recipe for a major economic impact on the city, he said.
Plans for the Jackson Family Center unveiled Wednesday entail developing a museum and cultural center, hotel, residential development, performing arts center and concert hall with a pavilion, conference center, retail establishments, cinema, a revamped Gleason Park golf course and parking structure. A piece of the development showed an elevated light rail and terminal at the complex running parallel to Broadway.
The Michael Jackson estate is not a part of the Gary development plans, an attorney for the estate said Wednesday.
And to critics of Jackson-related developments, Clay said the increased revenue for city coffers could allow the city to enhance its tax base, do more public works projects and improve city services.
"I'm not blind to the fact that there are people that have given up hope," Clay said. "This project brings Gary hope and opportunity."
The city of Gary has the King of Pop's boyhood home, but it isn't the only city that realized there was interest in a deceased entertainer's hometown.
Presley's birthplace of Tupelo, Miss., about 110 miles southeast of Memphis, Tenn., has a 15-acre Elvis Presley Park that includes a birthplace house, museum, gift shop and chapel, said Dick Guyton, executive director of the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation. The park was established in 1957. Presley did a concert in Tupelo and discovered the property was for sale, so he told the city he would donate proceeds from the concert to buy the property and create a park, Guyton said.
"We see about 75,000 to 80,000 people a year; about 45 percent of those are international visitors," Guyton said.
About six weeks after Michael Jackson's death, Guyton said he was contacted by an assistant to the Gary mayor, and they had planned a trip.
"We had talked several times; they had planned to fly down and spend a day with us, but we heard back that some things came up and they weren’t able to make it, and that was the last we heard from them."
The Graceland complex in Memphis includes Presley's adult home, a hotel, shopping centers and a Presley-themed automobile museum among other developments. Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., which manages the business and assets of the Elvis Presley estate, said it welcomes more than 600,000 visitors annually and is one of the top five most visited home tours in the country. Graceland opened for tours June 7, 1982.
The home of the Motown sound in Detroit that featured acts such as the Jackson 5 also doesn't see as many visitors as are projected to come to Gary.
Audley Smith Jr., chief executive of the Motown Historical Museum, told Crain's Detroit Business for a Dec. 9 report that 60,000 people visited the museum in its 2009 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up at least 20 percent from its average. The museum includes the Hitsville U.S.A. building, which is the location of the famous label's first studio.
Smith couldn't be reached at the museum Thursday for comment.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland generates about 400,000 visitors to its venue annually, according to a report from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer in May. An e-mail sent Thursday to a venue spokeswoman for comment wasn't returned.
South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority spokeswoman Erika Scheeringa said the agency wasn't a part of the development plans outside of a few brief conversations with the organization. But she said the agency welcomes any developments in the region that could have a positive impact.
"Our door is always open for new economic development and tourist attractions and those type of facilities that would bring visitors into the area," Scheeringa said. "We look forward to helping where we can."
The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the region's casinos are some of the most popular region attractions, Scheeringa said. About 5.3 million people visited Horseshoe Casino in Hammond in 2009, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission's 2009 fiscal year report to Gov. Mitch Daniels. Ameristar Casino, the Majestic Star casinos and Blue Chip Casino and brought in 3.3 million, 2.8 million, and 2.4 million visitors last year respectively.
Times Online Editor Robert Blaszkiewicz contributed to this report.