27-05-2025
From blight to beautiful: Gary releases plan to revitalize downtown
GARY, Ind. (WGN) — Once a bustling Midwest steal town, officials in Gary, Ind., are promising to make a comeback and redevelop the city to reverse the trend of population decline, abandoned buildings and blight that is too much a part of its 2025 landscape.
Leaders in the Northwest Indiana city of fewer than 70,000 teamed up with the University of Notre Dame to create a master plan of a vibrant, attractive and walkable downtown district.
'This plan builds on our administration's long standing to build community investment and shape a long term commitment to downtown for the next generation,' Gary Mayor Eddie Melton told WGN on Tuesday.
The vision, outlined in a report released Tuesday, is the culmination of a partnership made last year with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture's Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative. The partnership included a series of community listening sessions and a weeklong public urban planning session.
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A major part of the process was reestablishing a historic preservation board to identify the most important structures to keep in the city while demolishing and clearing some properties that have been in decline for decades.
'There were things in the drawing that didn't resonate, and people said, 'No you didn't get that right,' so the next day we cleaned it up and then said, 'Did we get this right?' And then we drew again,' explained Marianne Cusato, the director of the Notre Dame program.
Gary's Broadway corridor will be the cornerstone of the urban renewal, with the goal to make it a bustling mixed-use district with shops, art galleries and entertainment venues catering to residents and visitors alike.
The next step is to adjust current zoning codes to align with the the 10-year plan.
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