Notre Dame Architecture School Teams Up with Local Leaders to Transform Downtown Gary, Indiana

GARY, Ind. (WLS) — The announcement of plans to rejuvenate the city of Gary isn’t new, and there’s still no certainty this initiative will succeed.

However, with some financial backing secured and a recent string of positive developments for Gary, there’s a glimmer of hope. For those driving this effort, that’s sufficient motivation to keep moving forward.

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For several decades, the downtown area of Gary, Indiana has been characterized by rundown buildings, closed businesses, and minimal pedestrian activity. This is what Mayor Eddie Melton and his team are determined to transform.

“This plan is for us. In the community. It belongs to every single one of us,” Melton said.

The University of Notre Dame’s architectural school produced the plan. The school has a program devoted to rebuilding war and disaster-torn areas. They are now using that same expertise to partner with cities within 100 miles of the university that need their help in order to reinvent themselves.

“Two buildings across the street from each other, framing a street in a place to have coffee. That will be life-changing in downtown Gary,” said Marianne Cusato with the Notre Dame School of Architecture.

Based on the idea that a city’s downtown is a community’s economic engine, plans are already in place to restore those historic buildings that can be while changing zoning laws to make rebuilding easier and, importantly, moving to eliminate the blight that has plagued the city for years.

“The blight elimination is already underway. That has started with the remediation of a lot of the structures,” Melton said.

Initial funding for the project is coming in part from the state with additional money coming from Gary’s Hard Rock Casino, which, just a few days ago, was approved as the site of a new Lake County Convention Center.

And there is more good news for Gary. It was just a few days ago when the Trump administration agreed to support a merger between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. The Japanese conglomerate agreed, not just to keep, but to create new union jobs at Gary’s works plant.

The Indiana Legislature has also approved funding for a new downtown Metro center to be built in Gary. And while all of this is years away from fruition, it is a start.