What began as an opportunity last summer for Gary residents to share their hopes and conceptions for a reimagined downtown has become an in-depth master plan produced by the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture in partnership with the city.
After weeks of talking with neighbors and months of behind-the-scenes preparations, the final blueprint was released last month. Capital B Gary combed through every page of the revitalization plan crafted through Notre Dame’s “100 Mile Coalition” — an initiative that teams up with communities within a 100-mile radius of its South Bend campus to tackle entrenched challenges like housing shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and sluggish economic growth.
During the project’s kickoff announcement last June, Chris Harris, Gary’s director of redevelopment, said, “This collaboration with the Notre Dame School of Architecture provides the opportunity to intentionally plan a broader, walkable, mixed-use downtown, creating a more robust environment than the traditional corridor development that existed here in downtown Gary along Broadway and Fifth Avenue.”
The plan outlines a long-term vision for downtown Gary, with major renewal and renovation efforts expected to unfold in incremental stages over time. Parts of the revitalization will be funded through multiple sources, including $12 million for blight elimination from Indiana Senate Bill 434 and $90 million committed to a new downtown transit station. The city also secured an $85 million commitment last year from a developer to restore the historic Palace Theater, one of the plan’s marquee projects.
Housing
The report provides a multifaceted approach to housing regeneration in downtown Gary, combining strategic land use, regulatory reform, and architectural design principles to create livable, walkable, and economically vibrant communities. The plan’s aim is to provide diverse, affordable, and context-sensitive housing options in the downtown area.
Gary’s housing plan focuses on three key areas: the Broadway Corridor, where mixed-use buildings would include apartments above storefronts; the Emerson neighborhood, where new homes that are larger than single family homes but smaller than apartment buildings would fill in around the former Emerson School; and the area near the Cathedral of Holy Angels, where new housing and parks would be built around the cathedral and the former St. Mary’s Hospital site. Concentrating construction in these zones is meant to spark visible change, block by block.
The first regulatory fix, dubbed “Zoning 911,” cuts red tape so builders can actually use the city’s narrow lots. The proposal would:
- let home-based markets and beauty shops open by right;
- shrink minimum lot widths to 30 feet and side setbacks to 10 feet combined;
- allow two-story accessory dwelling units; and
- scrap onsite parking rules for small homes and let 25-foot retail lots breathe.
A longer play shifts Gary from use-based zoning to a simpler form-based code, keeping buildings at a neighborhood scale instead of segregating uses.
Palace Theater
The revival blueprint flags the long-shuttered Palace Theater as a make-or-break landmark. Although full restoration is not possible, the Broadway and Seventh Avenue facades still have life left, according to the report. Planners call for an adaptive-reuse rescue: stabilize the shell, polish the brickwork, light up the iconic marquee, and turn the ground floor into storefronts that spill energy onto the sidewalk.
Last June, the Gary Redevelopment Commission unanimously voted to enter contract negotiations with Black and White Investments for an $85 million investment, which will include up to 250 mixed-income units surrounding the site. The ground level will feature retail and entertainment spaces. Construction on the new redevelopment is scheduled to begin this year.
Saving the Palace’s bones does more than honor history; it stitches a revived downtown together. Mixed-use fabric buildings, pedestrian-friendly blocks, and a true arts & entertainment district all orbit this marquee. That’s why the report lists “Save the Palace Theater shell” under its top blight-reversal moves — proof that Gary’s comeback hinges on breathing new purpose into its grandest old stage.
City Hall and Transit Station
The plan aims to leverage the new transit infrastructure to create a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, and economically stimulating central hub that visually terminates Broadway and serves as a proud new gateway to Gary, while honoring the adjacent historic civic structures.
Gary’s civic core is set for a dramatic upgrade that turns the twin-domed City Hall and Lake County Superior Court into what the report calls a “welcoming front porch.” A new multimodal transit center will rise just north of the domes, capping the Broadway Corridor with a grand brick-and-stone landmark visible the length of the street — and greeting drivers off Interstate 90 and riders on the South Shore Line.
Backed by Senate Bill 434, cash, and a fresh TIF district, the center replaces the aging Metro Center station and links three systems in one stop: interstate traffic, commuter rail, and a revamped local bus network. Riders will move straight from sidewalk to platform into a climate-controlled hall that doubles as GPTC headquarters and rentable event space overlooking the skyline. Together with the old Adam Benjamin Jr. Metro Center (slated for adaptive reuse), City Hall, and the courthouse, the new building frames a “grand outdoor room” for civic gatherings.
The plan also re-landscapes Gateway Park into a curbless transit plaza with shade trees, public art, and pop-up incubator stalls, turning what used to be leftover land into an everyday hangout. To keep the cars and bikes sorted, it adds:
- a two-level, 200-space garage tucked against the station, with overflow lots to the east and a future deck at the Genesis Center site;
- secure bike parking, e-bike charging, and fix-it stations; and
- dedicated bus bays on the plaza and along Fourth Avenue.
The goal is to create a downtown public space that showcases Gary’s civic skyline.
Changes to downtown traffic flow
For years, Gary’s main drags — Broadway, Fourth, and especially Fifth Avenue — have doubled as state and federal highways, funneling a high volume of semi-trucks through downtown. According to the report, the constant rumble rattles storefronts, scares off foot traffic, and turns Fifth into a one-way obstacle course that chokes any chance at a lively retail strip.
Notre Dame’s planning team says the first step is to remove Fifth Avenue from state control. If the Indiana Department of Transportation needs to keep a highway route through the city, planners suggest using Fourth Avenue instead. Their goal is to convert Fifth into a two-way street with slower speeds, curbside parking, and the tree-lined sidewalks residents have long requested. It won’t happen without serious lobbying at the state level, but the goal is clear: push the trucks out, pull people in, and give Gary’s main street back to Gary.
Changes to zoning
One of the most important first steps outlined in the report won’t involve bulldozers or construction crews. It will be a matter of policy change. Through its research, Notre Dame found that changes to Gary’s zoning laws will be crucial to completing the plan.
Gary’s current zoning code still treats 30-foot residential lots and 25-foot storefronts as too small, demanding 50 and 60-foot widths, extra side-yard space, and on-site parking that few properties can spare. Projects that would fit just fine on historic blocks get stuck chasing variances, leaving empty parcels instead of new homes or shops.
The same rulebook blocks accessory apartments, duplexes, corner stores, and even new beauty salons unless they pre-date 2010. In addition, large chunks of downtown remain tagged “industrial,” forcing setbacks and blank walls, which the plan says could be replaced by lively sidewalks. Planners say the answer is a simpler, form-based code that clears the way for narrow-lot housing, small businesses, and a walkable, people-first city.
“This collaboration with the Notre Dame School of Architecture provides the opportunity to intentionally plan a broader, walkable, mixed-use downtown, creating a more robust environment than the traditional corridor development that existed here in downtown Gary along Broadway and Fifth Avenue,” Harris said.
