Gary municipal officials hope to complete an agreement with a Chicago-based company that will assist the city in clearing land for development.
Officials with the Redevelopment Commission informed Common Council members Tuesday of progress reaching an agreement with MaiaCo, a company that responded to a request for proposal by the city.
Redevelopment Executive Director Joseph Van Dyk said that while his agency has been active in acquiring plots of land and clearing them, the small size of the typical Gary residential lot makes them unlikely to be usable for future development.
As Gary officials see it, they would have MaiaCo officials advise them on ways to clear larger tracts of land that combine multiple city plots. MaiaCo also would help the city find outside interests to develop the land.
Van Dyk appeared before the council’s Ways & Means and Planning committees at the request of Councilwoman Ragen Hatcher, D-at large.
Van Dyk reiterated claims made previously by Redevelopment board President Kenya Jones and Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson that no deal with MaiaCo has been finalized. Van Dyk, however, confirmed that talks have been taking place for the past month, and that he has been instructed by Freeman-Wilson to try to reach an agreement by September.
Van Dyk said city officials need the outside help because the current means of acquiring individual plots takes too long to complete and is costly – it takes about $96,000 to acquire a full block of land in Gary.
“It is expensive, and we need to find a better way to do this,” Van Dyk said, adding that whichever consultant ultimately is hired to handle the project will be expected to pay the costs of acquiring the land and combining the tiny plots into large parcels.
In exchange, the city is willing to give a significant share of ownership to the developer.
“Gary is willing to give up at the back end of the deal,” he said. “We’re still trying to figure out how this will work.”
Van Dyk added that he, Jones and Freeman-Wilson are the officials negotiating on behalf of Gary.
Common Council President Ronald Brewer, who thinks the deal is a “good idea,” said the outside help is essential. “We don’t have the funds to do this ourselves.”
The mayor has said city officials ultimately will retain control of land in Gary, even though outside help is being sought. “This is something we cannot do alone as a community,” she said.
Van Dyk confirmed that former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has a financial interest in MaiaCo and will have some involvement in trying to get developers interested in building projects in Gary, but will not be a leader of the project.
Van Dyk also said the deal is far from complete.
“We are more than willing to walk away from this if we can’t reach something that benefits the city,” he said.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
