A Wisconsin-based developer plans to build a $20 million mixed-use development in downtown Michigan City.
Madison, Wisconsin-based Eminent Development Corp. filed plans with the city to build a five-story apartment complex at 7th and Wabash streets. Dubbed Project Wabash, it will include 45 to 60 apartments and commercial space for three tenants on the first floor, including an anchor restaurant. It will be located just across the street from the Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets Mall.
“Michigan City has a growing need for high-quality workforce units to help retain essential professionals, teachers, police officers, firefighters, health care staff and young professionals who form the backbone of the community,” developer Julian Walters said. “This project is designed to support that need, offering attainable housing options that strengthen both the local workforce and the city’s long-term economic vitality.”
The project will include both workforce housing priced to be affordable and market-rate apartments, Economic Development Corp. Michigan City Executive Director Clarence Hulse said.
“It’s a fantastic project,” he said. “Infill projects like this make our downtown viable.”
Hulse said the economic development agency brought developers in to tour Michigan City a few years ago, and this is the first resulting project to get off the ground. The developer is looking to break ground in the summer.
“The first floor will be retail,” he said. “We’re looking for a premier restaurant and also maybe a bakery.”
Project Wabash will have 7,000 square feet of retail space, the lion’s share of which is expected to go to a restaurant.
“We are targeting to be a foodie town. That’s our goal,” Hulse said. “We are looking at all different types of restaurants, ethnic restaurants. We’re looking at Spanish, Thai, Greek, just because we want a diversity of flavors downtown.”
The economic development agency is looking to recruit restaurants that operate within a 50-mile radius to open a second location in downtown Michigan City.
“If you’re operating a great restaurant with a great vibe two or three towns over, expand over here,” Hulse said.
The hope is to make downtown Michigan City a dining destination like Valparaiso or Crown Point.
“We’re seeking more international flavors,” Hulse said. “Everybody can do beer and wine and burgers. We’re trying to do different flavors. Right now, we’ve got Mediterranean. We’ve got Italian. We’ve got French. We’ve got Spanish/Portuguese. We’ve got American. We’ve got seafood. We’ve got exotic burgers. We try to have different flavors so you can have something different every time you visit. That will drive people downtown.”
Several major projects are underway in downtown Michigan City. The $101 million, 12-story Franklin Street tower adjoined to the new South Shore Line station is close to being topped off.
The $305 million, 14-story resort-style SoLa, short for South of the Lake, will bring condos, a hotel, restaurants and a rooftop deck with a pool, cabanas and sweeping views of Lake Michigan.
Chicago-based DAC Developments is redeveloping a three-block stretch by the former Memorial Hospital site at 5th Street and Pine Street. That $200 million project will include an eight- or nine-story tower, 500 apartments and a grocery store.
And Indianapolis-based Helix is developing the Sinding Sands Suite at the corner of East 8th Street and Michigan Boulevard. The workforce housing project will include 300 apartments, a juice bar, a childcare center and other retail spaces.
The buildout of Project Wabash is expected to take about 18 months.
“It shows momentum and activity in the marketplace,” Hulse said. “Also, not everybody wants to be in a 200-unit building. It’s quieter. You get to know your neighbors.”
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