LAPORTE | The first business is coming to a former industrial area the city has been working to redevelop for well over a decade.
Dunkin' Donuts will locate to New Porte Landing, the area known as the former Allis Chalmers property along Pine Lake Ave.
Officials hope Dunkin' Donuts will help generate heavy enough traffic to lure other firms to the more than 150 acre site, which is being eyed primarily for commercial development along with some office, recreational and residential use.
"I think everybody feels pretty confident a Dunkin' Donuts is going to be helpful towards that end," Mayor Blair Milo said.
Milo said the city was approached by the company about locating to New Porte Landing, and the drawings for the franchise were approved this week by the city's redevelopment commission.
Construction is expected to begin next month with completion in 2015.
Dunkin' Donuts will go up along Pine Lake Avenue on ground just north of the U.S. 35 overpass where several businesses and the city's old north side fire station were recently cleared to make way for new development.
Redevelopment of the site began in the 1990s when demolition of the Allis Chalmers smokestack and numerous blighted structures formerly occupied by the farm machinery maker began coming down.
Parts of the site are still undergoing an environmental cleanup, but other areas are presently suitable for more development.
Milo said a road cutting through the property to the rear of the Dunkin' Donuts site will be constructed, something that should further efforts to extend infrastructure to remainder of the grounds.
Holladay Properties, nationally known for developments such as Bass Pro Shops in Portage and other commercial projects in Mishawaka, signed on as the developer in 2013.
Dunkin' Donuts also gives LaPorte its only bakery after previously independently owned bakeries over the years failed to survive.
Milo said the city has been in contact with other businesses about locating to New Porte Landing, but talks have not advanced to where more specifics can be unveiled.
New Porte Landing is viewed as a key ingredient for revitalizing the city and its downtown, with plans for a road connecting the brownfield to the nearby downtown to help enhance commercial activity even further.
At the beginning, redeveloping the site as with any brownfield was predicted to take at least 20 years.
Milo said heavy market interest in the site has had a positive impact in furthering progress.
"There's just a number of different challenges which is why it takes a little bit of time. But, quite honestly, the development has continued to move pretty rapidly with all things considered," Milo said.
Bert Cook, executive director of the Greater LaPorte Economic Development Corp., said infrastructure should begin going in next year and it's not unreasonable to expect more than one new business a year "'for the next couple of years."
"We hope it's the first domino in what will be a string of project successes in that area," Cook said.