GARY â Eric Reaves, head of community investment for Gary, said he hopes real estate investors, building owners and tenants take a closer look at the city s façade improvement program and an initiative aimed at revitalizing the Aetna neighborhood. Â
Under a new pilot program, the department is unloading some of its land inventory â free of charge â to developers. Reaves said experienced and licensed contractors can apply online to participate in the âRehab One, Get Two Freeâ initiative.
Calling it his âbrainchildâ that came to him in the middle of the night, Reaves said the âRehab One, Get Two Freeâ initiative is the type of out-of-the-box thinking Gary needs to put its mass inventory of properties back on the tax rolls.
GARY â Leaders in the Jerome Prince administration say they are serious about finally unloading hundreds of parcels once owned by the long-defunct and scandal-plagued Gary Urban Enterprise Association.
In the cityâs possession since 2007, the land could have been unloaded or redeveloped under the past mayoral administration of Karen Freeman-Wilson and Rudy Clay, but it never happened.
Early on in GUEA s fallout, Clay touted a comprehensive plan using those parcels to develop housing in the Emerson neighborhood with the promise of new storefronts in the 600 and 700 blocks of Broadway.
GUEA was formed in 1985 under a state law permitting U.S. Steel and other Gary businesses to reduce their property taxes by making charitable donations of more than $15 million to the association between 2000 and 2003.
Gary’s Aetna community - founded by a munitions company - has suffered from aftershock implosions ignited by poverty, crime, and the smoldering fuse of neglect.
GARY â City leaders say they should finalize the sale of the Genesis Convention Center next week with Akyumen Industries, a Los Angeles-based smartphone manufacturer and tech company seeking to plant its headquarters here.Â
Akyumen plans to move its corporate headquarters into the underused convention center while building a factory on the old Ivanhoe Gardens housing site at 11th Avenue and Chase Street â where the company says they will manufacture 5G phones, tablets and phablets.
The company is acquiring 1 Genesis Center Plaza for $2.5 million that included a $150,000 down payment, Eric Reaves, head of community investment for Gary, said.
Reaves confirmed to the Common Council on Tuesday night that Akyumen has 180 days from close of sale to pay the remaining balance after the down payment â with no deadline extension opportunity.