The U.S. Department of Transportation has given Portage a $1 million grant to market a 300-acre site on the city’s far north side.
It’s unusual for a city’s redevelopment commission to control a piece of land that huge.
“Minus the refinery, you could fit Whiting inside that land,” Mayor Austin Bonta said Thursday.
That site, formerly called Halas Harbor, lost that moniker after the Chicago Bears jilted Portage in favor of Hammond.
But the Bears pitch did draw attention to the city. More than 30 million people saw the video quickly put together for that pitch.
The private marina at Marina Shores was sold to a Kansas City firm that saw the city’s Hail Mary play and decided to investigate the city for business opportunities, Bonta said.
“Us getting the grant is not related to the Bears pitch,” but developers’ interest in the city is, he said.
The Redevelopment Commission, which owns the site once owned by the failed Sport Resort, has been working on a request for proposals for the site. That’s going to come together quickly now that the grant has been secured, Bonta said.
Although it’s currently inaccessible, the RDC has about 90% of the engineering work done for the essential bridge across Burns Waterway to extend a road through the property and connect with U.S. 12 and Ind. 249, Bonta said.
The bridge is on hold until there’s a need for it. Once a developer is selected for the site, it’s likely to become a planned unit development, with a variety of uses.
Among them will be high-density residential. “We’ve always envisioned the site as being a more high-density site when it comes to people moving there,” Bonta said.
With its access to the South Shore Line station at Hillcrest Road and U.S. 12, plus major highways, it’s a good location to serve as the region’s premier downtown, he said.
Bonta called the site “a special place where the South Shore Line, Burns Waterway and one of the busiest highways all come together.” Interstate 94 runs south of the site.
“What’s also really great about the land is it’s also a blank slate for development,” Bonta said. All the roads will be new, built according to the planned development of the site.
Among the potential uses for that site, along with high-density housing, that have been discussed are a chocolate factory, an inn for Indiana Dunes National Park and more.
The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority’s new 20-year strategic plan includes improving access to the national park and amenities in lakeside communities. Portage has two national park sites, West Beach and Portage Lakefront Park and Riverwalk.
Bonta said the city finalized its grant application and submitted it the day before the federal government shutdown last year. “We knew we were up against a deadline,” he said, in more ways than one.
“We were already moving toward the request for proposals and a plan to market the site this summer,” Bonta said, but the grant is a boon to the city.
The money will be used to conduct market analysis, stakeholder engagement, financial and procurement structuring, site planning, concept development and create an implementation roadmap, he said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
