The Froebel Senior Center, a $24 million low-income senior housing development, is being planned for the 1500 block of Madison Street in Gary.
The city’s Redevelopment Commission meeting authorized a purchase agreement and conveyed properties along the block to the Broadway Area Community Development Corp. during Wednesday’s meeting.
Porshca Goffin, the new executive director of Broadway CDC, said the nonprofit plans to build two three-story buildings. They’ll each have 60 to 70 one-and-two bedroom apartments for seniors with incomes between $15,300 to $60,000.
“These will be subsidized rental units,” Goffin said.
She said the amenities would include a dog walking area, a community room, an outdoor gazebo, an exercise room, beauty and barber shops, a garden, computer room, and four bowling lanes.
She said soundproofing will be installed between each apartment unit.
The property includes the blighted Louis J. Bailey Library, a public library built in 1918 with a $25,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation.
Goffin acknowledged the library’s historic significance as a Carnegie library and the hub for steelworker immigrant families trying to learn English and assimilate into a new culture.
“I don’t believe we’ll fully demolish that building because it’s so historic,” Goffin said of the library which closed in 1963.
She hopes it could be restored and used as a library for residents. She said the CDC will rely on federal low income tax credits to finance the project and she hopes to break ground in early 2027.
“I think it’s pretty much a shell but maybe they can tie into whatever will be part of the future,” said redevelopment director Chris Harris.
Commission member GlenEva Dunham praised the project.
“As president of the Gary Teachers Union, we have so many vacant buildings and most of the time, developers are against low-income housing. I know our community can use something like this,” she said.
Harris said Broadway CDC is one of Gary’s most successful nonprofit developers. Established in 1994, its portfolio includes the Northwest Indiana Veterans Village, 839 Massachusetts St.; South Shore Commons Apartments, 860 N. Wells St.; Washington Manor single family homes, 20th Avenue and Adams Street; and the Madison Street Townhomes, 1352 Jefferson St.
Goffin replaced long-time Broadway CDC director Vernita Leslie who retired but still advises the nonprofit, Goffin said.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
