ELKHART — You can’t accuse Elkhart boosters of thinking small.
A coalition of city leaders has crafted an ambitious $127 million blueprint for significantly changes in the area east of the Elkhart River along Jackson Boulevard. From a new $32 million health and fitness center to a new 400-unit residential development along the Elkhart River, the plan — if it comes to fruition — would dramatically alter the entire neighborhood and is aimed at bolstering activity in and around the city center.
The plan, which relies heavily on private investment, is contained in a 371-page, $703 million proposal put forward by boosters from Elkhart, St. Joseph and Marshall counties for a piece of $84 million in state money aimed at fostering regional collaboration and development. The three-county group, Regional Cities of Northern Indiana, crafted the plan, which the Indiana Economic Development Corp. publicly unveiled Tuesday, along with plans from six other regional Indiana coalitions also vying for part of the $84 million, earmarked per the state’s Indiana Regional Cities Initiative.
It’s no sure thing that the Elkhart plans will move ahead, even if the state awards the northern Indiana group part of the $84 million. Nevertheless, the proposal reveals in greater clarity local boosters’ vision for development along Jackson Boulevard east of the core downtown area, which the is dubbed the Market District.
“I think they are visionary plans,” said Pete McCown, who is head of the Elkhart County Community Foundation and one of the five members of the RCNI Regional Development Authority, the body that oversaw development of the three-county proposal.