The city of Hammond continues gaining control over downtown property, as redevelopment efforts continue.
The redevelopment commission Tuesday accepted the donation of much of the former St. Margaret Hospital property from Franciscan Alliance. Executive Director of Planning and Development Anne Taylor said the site has a lot of potential.
"A lot of space for mixed-use residential, commercial, retail," Taylor told commission members. "It's very close to our [future] downtown train station, and we will be retaining the parking garage, as well, so that will help with additional parking down there."
Franciscan is donating more than two-thirds of the former hospital site to the city. Most of the rest will go to Purdue University Northwest. Franciscan had previously donated part of a former parking lot to the Hammond Academy of Science and Technology charter school.
Commission attorney Dave Westland said the hospital site will serve as the southern bookend of the downtown redevelopment. "So, it's a big plus for the city's efforts to kind of revitalize downtown Hammond, and it fits in with some of the other things that we've been working on and doing, like the Banc and the . . . [request for proposals] for the Rimbach Square," Westland said.
The redevelopment commission also agreed to purchase a vacant lot at the southeast corner of Fayette and Oakley from a private owner for $94,000. Taylor said it also has great development potential.
"It is literally one block away from our upcoming downtown train station, and we want to make sure that we can control the development there that is probably going to come soon," Taylor explained.
Meanwhile, Taylor said the city has gotten three proposals from developers for the Rimbach Square project. The city has been hoping to see multi-family residential development with retail along Hohman Avenue.
"These three proposals are asking for a variety of incentive requests to help move their projects forward from the city," Taylor said. "So at this time, we will be meeting with each one to discuss what these differing incentive requests are."
Taylor said city staff will look for the proposal that best fits in with the downtown master plan.
