VALPARAISO — The site that the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority is considering for a new bus station and its parking is slightly larger than two blocks.
However, it’s part of a much bigger plan for the area south of downtown, a major transit-oriented development that will extend from the area around Central Park downtown to Joliet Road on the west and U.S. 30 on the south.
It would include shopping areas, apartments or condominiums, single-family homes and office space, but it all depends on whether the city can get financing to get the project rolling.
“It’s very preliminary at this point,” city planner Tyler Kent said.
The city is requesting $7 million to $12 million from the RDA to put in the parking lots, street improvements and sewers as Phase I.
The bus station will serve the Chicago Dash commuter line and the V-Line city buses, replacing the existing station at Indiana Avenue and Campbell Street. Parking there is filling more and more, so “we need to find a new home for the Chicago Dash,” Kent said.
The bus station and parking will be on what is now the Von Tobel Lumber and Hardware warehouse and the Smith Ready Mix truck loading area, between Lafayette and Washington streets and south from Monroe Street. Kent said the city is working with Von Tobel and Smith to acquire the properties.
The new station builds off the success of the Chicago Dash, which the Regional Development Authority helped launch in 2009, according to a news release from the RDA.
The site is near railroad tracks that used to host a commuter line between Valparaiso and Chicago. Kent said city officials hope eventually to have a South Shore commuter line spur to the city.
“This would be the first, true transit-oriented development in the area, and a model for TOD (transit-oriented development) in the region for years to come,” Mayor Jon Costas said.
Kent said planning for the area began about six months ago, and the city contracted with American Structurepoint to do preliminary work. The plan won’t replace the U.S. 30 corridor plan from about five years ago that designated the area and including the Anco plant on Brown Street as an artistic district.
The city will just create a “mission” for the area and let private-sector development happen, but the two concepts should work together, officials said.
The RDA board took the plan under consideration for funding and is having staff work with Valparaiso officials to refine the project’s scope and create a final funding proposal.