VALPARAISO | If the city succeeds in starting the express bus service to Chicago's Loop later this year, it could have a station and about 150 parking spaces provided courtesy of developer Jake Wagner.
The city's Redevelopment Commission agreed Thursday to seek proposals from companies interested in providing the express service. The proposals are due in early July, and the city hopes to launch the service in October. Surveys went out in this month's water bills asking residents if they would use the bus, where they need to go in Chicago and what time they need to be there.
Wagner presented the commission with a plan to develop about 3 acres at the northwest corner of Lincolnway and Campbell Street over a two- or three-year period with commercial and residential buildings along with a brick bus station that could be converted to use as a commuter rail station if South Shore Line service is ever extended to Valparaiso.
Wagner and his partners, Tom Galovic and Jason Evans, had the plan prepared by the Lannert Group, of Geneva, Ill., which also did a study last year for the city of the potential for a transit-oriented development around a train station in that area. Wagner's plan, called Village Station, would generate more than $30 million in construction and 95,000 square feet of development, the Lannert study showed.
In the first phase of Village Station, a three-story building would be built on the corner of Lincolnway and Campbell with 6,600 square feet of retail/commercial space on the Lincolnway side and another 6,600 square feet of retail/commercial space on a lower level facing south because of the slope of the land. The two upper floors would have 12,000 feet of residential lofts each.
The commuter bus station could have a coffee shop or similar small retail space. The parking area would be shared with the commercial/residential building. As additional commercial space was added in the second and third phases, which he said won't occur for a couple of years, the city would have to find more parking spaces.
The concept was first presented a couple of years ago, but floundered because of the uncertainty over whether commuter rail will ever arrive. The proposal for the express bus provided new impetus for the project, Wagner said, but it will require some additional help from the city. First, it's dependent on the proposed extension of Campbell through to U.S. 30.
The commission agreed to start the process to expand the tax increment financing district, which now includes the downtown, to include the proposed transit-oriented development area. And it will seek an amendment to the state law to expand the area eligible to receive the downtown full-service liquor licenses, so Wagner could have a fine dining facility as an anchor to the first commercial building.
A survey of Lincolnway also was approved to determine the precise right of way to see whether on-street angle parking is possible. Wagner's overall proposal was greeted favorably, and the commission asked its director to work with Wagner's group to try to reach an agreement in the next couple of months so the project can proceed.
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