(GARY, IN) – Gary Mayor Jerome A. Prince recently met with the Northwest Indiana Creative Investors Association (NICIA) during their monthly membership meeting on March 17 to discuss redevelopment and real estate investment opportunities with the city. The group is comprised of investors that have a focus on Gary. During the meeting, the NICIA raised many questions regarding the opportunities for investors in buying real estate and plans for redevelopment. The group and other attendees were particularly interested in learning more about the number of parcels and vacant land owned by the city and how investors can obtain it for development.
Prince said the City of Gary is now the largest landowner of city properties. By default, the city inherited 6,500 properties due to unpaid taxes or abandonment by absentee owners. And while there are plenty abandoned lots throughout the city, many of the properties are 25-foot lots which aren’t large enough for development based on current building standards. Very few lots are adjacent to other vacant lots. Prince added that the city is acquiring another one thousand properties from Lake County, taking them off the tax sales, to make the process of acquiring buildable lots easier.
Prince also disclosed that many properties in the city’s Emerson area are still embroiled in the Gary Urban Enterprise Association (GUEA) debacle. GUEA acquired over 655 properties but was dissolved because of malfeasance and corruption in 2006. According to Prince, the city must receive permission from the Secretary of State in order to gain access to those properties and be able to market them to interested property investors.
“The administration’s goal is to attract 2000 market rate residents to the city,” said Prince. “The city experienced a loss of 14% during the last census but the irony of it is within the last year we actually saw an increase of about 1000 residents.”
Prince said he envisions not only single-family homes on vacant sites, but duplexes and row houses. He referenced the city’s First Time Homebuyer Program which makes home funds available in the form of forgivable loans for down payment, principal reduction, and closing costs associated with the purchase of a home. Assistance will be made to eligible individuals and families on a first-come, first-serve and one-time basis, purchasing a single-family structure home in the City of Gary. This, he said, will make buying a home or property in the city easier.
