Jasmine Wright at the site for the new Genesis Towers Park

Seniors at Genesis Towers will get the park they want

Contributed By:The 411 News

Come June or sooner, residents in the Gary Housing Authority’s Genesis Towers Senior Housing building, 578 Broadway, Gary, will have a new park designed with them in mind. The park will be in the space across the street from Genesis Towers that some residents have used to place their grills and barbecue pits, on the lot of a demolished building.

When complete, the park’s plan calls for a fenced-in recreation spot with the amenities the residents requested. A walking path and lawns will separate the space. One end of the park is designated the kitchen, where a grill and tables will be installed. This area also has room for dancing.

The walking path will have benches for seating and more shade trees will be planted. The layout includes a growing space for residents’ gardens.

Remarkable about the park plan is the team bringing it together: Sixth grade students from 21st Century Charter School, students at the Ivy Tech East Chicago Campus, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, headed by the Gary Redevelopment Department.

Jasmine Wright, the project coordinator said Genesis Tower residents had complained to the mayor that they needed more space. The only outside places available to residents in the building, the former Hotel Gary, were its sidewalks. And the nearest park is Froebel Park, some 10 blocks away.

Last year, Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson tasked her Redevelopment Department to get it done.

Teams of students from 21st Century interviewed Genesis Tower residents, learning what the residents wanted in the park. Working with Art Institute students, they developed the park’s scale model. Wright said the sixth graders asked to do more and were added to the teams creating the park’s lighting activation and furniture.

Prof. Jan Tishy, from the Art Institute, had already included some 21st Century students in his work to provide architectural lighting for the city’s project to turn the remains of the City Methodist Church at 5th and Washington into a ruins garden.

Ivy Tech’s carpentry and construction students are working with Wright to test build wooden benches. “They’re using a method used by early shipbuilders who used steam to bend wood,” Wright said. “After that, the students at 21st Century will be able to do it.” The park will also have cement benches.

The opening date may be delayed, Wright said, if the project receives a grant to add a bathroom that would only be accessible to Genesis Center residents.

Cost for the park is under $10,000 Wright said, “because we’re doing the entire design and build.”


Jasmine Wright visits site for the new Genesis Towers Park

Story Posted:04/18/2018