Site location marked in yellow of proposed development on east 15th Avenue

Developer proposes new industrial park along east 15th Avenue in Gary

Contributed By:The 411 News

Two parcels of vacant land along east 15th Avenue in Gary, in the 1400 blocks of Colorado and Wyoming Streets, are being primed for development by Ben Cremer, operating as 3401 Gary LLC.

Cremer's plan to turn the 30 acres into an industrial park came before the Gary city council's Planning & Development committee Tuesday night.

The proposed plan has required a zoning change, from R2 to M2, and that was approved by the Gary Planning Commission at its April 26 meeting. The plan is before the city council as C.P.O. 2021-40.

The industrial park will accommodate warehousing, logistics, light industrial and trucking enterprises. The Gary Community School Corp. is the current owner. Cremer said the purchase is contingent on the council's approval of the zoning change.

The parcels are currently wetlands and the majority of it will remain undeveloped, Cremer said. Out of the 30 acres, he hopes to get 5-8 acres developed for the construction of several industrial buildings.

A comparison venture, Cremer told the committee, is the industrial park near the Bass Pro Shops complex in Portage. "As a broker in the logistics space, I put every tenant in that park over the first 15 years of its development."

The parcels are in an area already devoted to trucking and light industrial near the 15th Avenue entrance to I-65.

Cremer described the area as "prime for logistics" because of the I-65, I-90, and I-80/94 highway interchanges at 15th Avenue. "It has the most potential, in my opinion, of any site in northwest Indiana."

The full city council will vote on C.P.O. 2021-40 at the June 15th Common Council meeting.

According to the Lake County Assessor web site, the parcel at 1400 Colorado has an assessed value of $693,800.00; the parcel at 1400 Wyoming is assessed at $30,000. Each parcel is 15 acres.

Story Posted:06/10/2021