EAST CHICAGO | Some 30 buildings in the city are scheduled to be demolished during the next few months, most to make room for planned new single-family homes, city officials said.
A majority of the empty properties are in the North Harbor area, where entire blocks of Broadway and long stretches of Main and Guthrie streets are to be leveled.
Bids to raze 25 North Harbor structures — all owned by the East Chicago Redevelopment Commission — are scheduled to be opened Sept. 28. They mark the first of approximately 100 demolitions planned in the area.
More than $3 million in federal, state and local funding has been earmarked to prepare the properties for construction of new, privately owned residences as part of a citywide homeownership initiative.
Some $590,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds and $2.6 million from the city's lakefront tax allocation area were approved by redevelopment commissioners for the project earlier this year.
Bids also were opened this week by the East Chicago Board of Public Safety for the demolition of another five structures on the city's South Side and Calumet areas.
The bids, ranging from $70,800 to $80,578, are under review, and Building Commissioner Winna Guzman said she would have a recommendation for the board at its Sept. 26 meeting.
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