Developers who proposed a Gateway Station for the South Shore at Interstate 65 in Gary have done a turnaround and now want to build a new $120 million station and development at the site of the Metro Center.
The new station would have two parking garages, overhead pedestrian access to the Genesis Center and retail development. It would be called the Adam Benjamin Gateway Station.
"As a resident of Gary and a member of the development team, it is my desire to help fan the flames of economic progress and enhance the quality of life in a community that has so much to offer," said Vance Kenney, the Gary representative for Gateway Partners LLC.
Kenney and others presented the plan Friday to the board of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District at its meeting in Chesterton.
Last fall, Gateway Partners LLC made a proposal for a $56 million Gateway Station for the South Shore, located just east of where I-65 originates at U.S. 20. Mayor Rudy Clay originally supported that proposal, but withdrew it when the public protested plans to close the Metro Center.
Deputy Mayor Geraldine Tousant told the NICTD board the mayor supports the new project.
When the new project is complete in 2011, the Miller Street South Shore stop would be closed, but bus service would be provided from there to the Metro Center, Kenney said.
Gateway Partners is owned by Kenney, Mark Titus and Bill Samples.
Titus is a New Orleans-based developer and partner in Garner Services LLC. Samples is based in Nashville, Tenn.
NICTD was supportive of the I-65 proposal and also is considering throwing its weight behind the new proposal for the Metro Center, according to NICTD Marketing and Planning Director John Parsons.
The high-level boarding planned for the station would mean shorter stops for trains and quicker rides into Chicago for passengers, Parsons said.
He said the NICTD board has asked Gateway Partners to submit more information on financing.
Gateway Partners would put up some of the equity for financing, according to Titus. It also would seek financing through the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. Federal transportation funds would be sought for trackside work.
Titus said the RDA could bond for the money and proceeds from the development would pay off the bonds.
"One important role the public/private partnership adds is the private side is driving this project, so it will happen on a private-sector timeline and not a bureaucratic government timeline," Titus said. "That cuts a project that would take government five to seven years to accomplish to a two-and-a-half to three-year project.
Construction could begin as soon as this fall, Titus said.
One parking garage at the Gateway station would have 500 spaces, while the other would have 1,500, according to Gateway Partners. A block of shops is planned along Fourth Avenue.
A temporary station would be built at Jackson Park and Third Avenue while the new station is built.
