Todd Leeth

Valparaiso is looking to help a developer attract more industry to the city.

Plans to turn Valparaiso's former Boys & Girls Club into a boutique hotel are moving forward, but parking remains a concern for city council members. The city council is considering a planned unit development ordinance for the Grand Gardner Hotel. The project would re-purpose the 1899 Gardner School that for decades housed the Boys & Girls Club into a 58-room hotel, restaurant and banquet hall.

Plans for a new subdivision can move forward in Portage. The city council voted four-to-two last week to rezone almost 34 acres of land from low-density to multi-family residential development. That will allow Olthof Homes to build 90 paired cottage homes and 40 town homes south of Lute Road, between the Breckenridge Apartments and Roswell Drive.

The developers of a Valparaiso subdivision are promising that drainage and erosion issues along Beauty Creek will be resolved by the time construction is done. Crews are making preparations to extend Vale Park Road as part of the Brooks at Vale Park development. An erosion incident caused by rain and melting snow last month brought concerns from local residents.