The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority’s board of directors approved the creation of a nonprofit subsidiary to boost development in Northwest Indiana.
The Land Development Entity will accelerate redevelopment by assisting with assembling, acquiring and stabilizing challenging properties. The entity will provide operate collaboratively with local municipal entities.
“The Land Development Entity is a critical step to take if we are to maximize the investments that the RDA has spearheaded in Northwest Indiana, including the $1.5 billion Double Track and West Lake commuter rail projects and more than $100 million in shoreline restoration and revitalization initiatives in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Portage,” said Sherri Ziller, RDA president and CEO, in a press release. “It will put these unique assets to work for the whole Region, opening up possibilities for investment and development that were closed off, until now.”
The Land Development Entity was approved following a public hearing held at the RDA’s Crown Point offices. Prior to public comments, AJ Bytnar, RDA director of economic development, provided the board with the rationale behind the creation of an LDE.
“While we were preparing the 2025 update to our Comprehensive Strategic Plan, one of the things that came up over and over again talking with folks in the communities, in the private sector and in the not-for profit sector in the need for land assemblage,” Bytnar said. “Due to a variety of circumstances, including Northwest Indiana’s industrial history, some properties have been left behind, when it be through abandonment, through brownfields or through buildings that are functionally obsolete.”
The LDE will work with local communities to address these challenging properties, incentivizing private sector development and returning these properties to the tax rolls. The RDA is committing an initial $5 million in seed money so that the LDE can begin operations as soon as possible.
“We plan to spend the balance of this year engaging local communities that may be able to participate and help guide project priorities for the entity itself, as well as the private sector because ultimately this a tool for both the public and private sectors to be able to address issues that exist within the marketplace itself,” Bytnar said.
