The boundary for the proposed transit development district for Beverly Shores and Pines has been slightly shifted.
A razor-thin spur toward Lake Michigan has been eliminated, said consultant Aaron Kowalski of MKSK. Kowalski, who is helping the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority with setting up the TDDs around South Shore Line train stations, gave an update Wednesday at a quarterly meeting of the TDD steering committee.
A TDD is like a tax increment financing district on steroids.
The comment period on the proposed TDD for Beverly Shores and Pines ended last month, setting up the next stop for approval. The two towns’ councils will need to approve the plan, then the RDA, then the State Budget Committee.
Additional public hearings will be part of the process.
Public input so far has been positive, Kowalski said.
The proposed TDD comprises 233.2 acres, 100 of them in Beverly Shores, where the station is. That spur to the lakefront, where it would have included a former pizza place, was removed based on comments from the Beverly Shores Town Council, Kowalski said.
The RDA will reach out to Michigan City to start having conversations about extending sewers to the two towns to serve the proposed TDD.
Future development there relies on having sewer service available.
Valparaiso and South Bend are still in talks about setting up their own transit development districts.
Already, though, the existing TDDs are attracting hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, RDA Director of Communications David Wellman said.
Michigan City has had several responses to a request for proposals for the site of a former Franciscan Health hospital, and the city is looking at a $200 million to $300 million development at 5th and Pine with at least 500 apartments and a grocery store, Wellman said. “We’re really excited about this announcement. Hopefully, the project comes together.”
If it does, that would push the dollar value of projects in TDDs to upward of $700 million, he said.
World’s Finest Chocolate is still considering a site in Portage, which would push that figure even higher if the deal goes through, Wellman said.
Wellman also provided an update on the West Lake Corridor project. The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District hopes revenue service could begin in May, but that could be delayed by the construction of a bridge and underpass at Main Street.
The design work is 96% complete. Installation of the catenary system that powers the trains is nearly complete. Final paving of the Munster station’s parking lot will occur in the spring when the weather warms up.
“NICTD keeps working with the contractors to try to hustle that project along,” Wellman said.
Along the traditional route, the only part of the double track project that remains unfinished is the Michigan City parking garage and station, he said. The terra cotta façade from the former station on that site is being installed at the new station now.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
