The Hobart City Council laid initial grounds for the possibility of a proposed Lake County Convention Center being built in that city.
The council at its meeting on Wednesday granted preliminary Planned Unit Development (PUD) approval for Patriot Park, formerly known as Silverstone Crossings located off the Interstate 65/U.S. 30 corridor.
Final reading of the ordinance will take place at the April 16 City Council meeting since there is no meeting on April 2, Mayor Josh Huddlestun said.
The Hobart Plan Commission at its March 6 meeting approved plans for Patriot Park, which include a 149,000-square-feet convention center on the north side of the property.
Earlier this month, hundreds of residents gathered at St. Timothy Church in Gary to learn about Gary’s proposed site at the Hard Rock Casino, while members of the Hobart Plan Commission voted unanimously to establish a 213-acre planned-unit development for Patriot Park, its preferred location.
The City of Gary, the Hard Rock and AECOM and Garfield Public/Private LLC and the City of Hobart have submitted proposals for a Lake County Convention Center. The Lake County Board of Commissioners has until May 31 to decide on a proposal, according to state statute.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said the project, if built in Gary, would be a “catalyst for phenomenal growth for the future of us.”
“This is the right time, and Gary is the right place,” Melton said at the meeting
Huddlestun pitched the advantages of locating the convention center in Hobart.
“The Plan Commission voted on it last night because we wanted to show our commitment to developing the area,” Huddlestun said. “I hear a lot of ‘If we get it, we’re going to do xyz,’ but this isn’t a pipe dream for us. We mean business — we are doing it.
“We’ve laid out a plan that will set the stage and allow us to be vertical a lot quicker with zoning taken care of, but we’re also not reliant on the convention center. We’re still going to develop the property.”
Plans for Patriot Park were outlined by Civil Engineer and Development Manager Jeff Ban of DVG Team at Wednesday’s Hobart City Council meeting.
The 213-acre parcel is located east of Mississippi Street. south of 73rd Avenue, west of Colorado Street and north of U.S. 30.
The developer, Al Krygier, envisions the area would include an existing 70-unit veterans transitional housing along with three other residential buildings that would contain 680 market-rate units; two 100-unit hotels; a 55-acre youth sports complex; mixed retail/office buildings; five multi-tenant, retail and restaurant buildings and five flex office warehouse buildings among other amenities.
Ban said there is also the possibility of a golf venue at the site since interest has been shown toward that possibility.
The county convention center, should it be awarded to Hobart, would be the center of the development.
The proposed complex could bring in $523 million in new capital, Huddlestun said, whether the convention center is awarded to Gary or doesn’t come to fruition at all.
In Gary, officials are proposing a 145,000-square-foot convention center and Hard Rock Hotel near the location of Hard Rock Casino, Melton said. In addition to the Hard Rock Hotel, the property has space for two more hotels, one of which would be a REVERB by Hard Rock Hotel that would be co-developed and managed by Hard Rock, he said.
The center would include two restaurants and retail spaces, Melton said, and space for weddings, graduations, farmers markets, theater performances and more, he said. The Gary proposal includes a pledge to hire Gary workers, unions, trades as well as minority, women and veteran-owned businesses for building and establishing the convention center.
Post-Tribune staff writer Alexandra Kukulka contributed.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.