BEING LOCATED AT the southern-most tip of Lake Michigan has made Gary a transportation hub with I-65 starting and intersecting with I-80/94 and I-90 in the city. Its proximity to Chicago remains an asset.
Part 2
PORTAGE MIDTOWN, SOUTH BEND, IN
As we nailed our way down to the halfway point of our small development in Gary, Indiana, my brother and I hoped to become more involved in Portage Midtown, a group we introduced in the last installment of this series. Among the group’s objectives is the creation of an ecosystem of small developers in South Bend, Indiana. It sees itself as a catalyst for building ecosystems, not networks.
“Using nature as a metaphor is more powerful,” explained Mike Keen, on the difference between the two words. Keen is the principal of Thrive Michiana, the group behind Portage Midtown. In practical terms, he says, Portage Midtown’s players in the development process work together and the outcomes are “collaborative, balanced, and locally oriented.” He added, “We are not looking for extractive or predatory flippers, but town makers who strengthen the fabric of their neighborhoods.”
Keen advocates that locals who have their heart, not just a profit motive, rebuild and benefit from their renovations. Flippers, he says, often have no ties to the community. “Our experience is that they come in, do the least they can, and take shortcuts to make a profit,” he explained.
Working with town makers is an incremental approach to redevelopment that takes time, he admits. “We try to train people who live in the neighborhood to be developers.” Developing their own neighborhood isn’t a “source of income” for them, “but a way of life,” he continued.
Howard Ways, an urban planner and educator based in Metro Washington, DC, supports Keen’s objectives but adds that his major concern is that people don’t often separate economic gentrification from cultural gentrification. He encourages people to buy where they live or do business there so they can control their destiny and reap any short-term and long-term economic benefits. “When you own the property, you have a greater stake in the outcome of the neighborhood and a greater stake in preserving the culture, too,” he says.
Before spreading redevelopment in the former home of Studebaker (the car manufacturer), Keen was a professor of urban studies and sustainability. He began his incremental development career by buying and renovating properties and about 20 vacant lots in what is now Portage Midtown. Soon, he and members of his ecosystem found themselves with what they dub a “farm,” an area of several blocks they are systematically working to cultivate.
In addition to building and teaching, Portage Midtown also advocates on behalf of small developers. They work with government officials to point out the inequities of opportunities such as local governments making capital available only to large developers via tax increment financing deals. In addition, Portage Midtown encourages local officials to redirect conventional economic development resources—tax incentives, pass-through block grants, and one-time deals like COVID stimulus money—to small developers.
One example of the support a large developer received from the Gary Common Council was a tax abatement worth an estimated $669,000 for the developer behind the 38-unit Broadway Lofts in downtown Gary. The subsidy comes out to a little more than $17,600 per unit. Three years later, the developer, now known as Pivotal Housing Partners, is asking the city to support another project with a contribution of $2.6 million.
In South Bend, located on the Indiana and Michigan border, known as Michiana, the city “changed their zoning codes to make small development more doable,” Keen explained. Before the city changed one of its building codes, I had to get “36 variances (to the code) to just put seven houses back where seven houses used to be and it cost us $12,000,” he says. The cost was passed on to buyers, making the homes more expensive.
The code called for off-street parking in the urban, suburban, and rural parts of St. Joseph County, of which South Bend is a part. Keen successfully advocated that the city change the code to allow on-street parking in urban Portage Midtown, making future homes built in the denser areas less expensive and easing South Bend’s and America’s housing shortage.
Next in the Series: What’s Driving the American Housing Shortage
Gary native Wayne Young is the publisher of Port of Harlem magazine. Founded by Young in 1995, the magazine is inclusive, diverse, and Pan-African. He is also president of the Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership, which funds and manages small projects centering around culture, education, and community in the West African nation. He recently repurposed his parents’ home in Gary into a short-term rental.
Wayne A. Young
Gary native Wayne Young is the publisher of Port of Harlem magazine. Founded by Young in 1995, the magazine is inclusive, diverse, and Pan-African. He is also president of the Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership, which funds and manages small projects centering around culture, education, and community in the West African nation. He recently repurposed his parents’ home in Gary into a short-term rental.
Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are – Renovating
BEING LOCATED AT the southern-most tip of Lake Michigan has made Gary a transportation hub with I-65 starting and intersecting with I-80/94 and I-90 in the city. Its proximity to Chicago remains an asset.
Part 2
PORTAGE MIDTOWN, SOUTH BEND, IN
As we nailed our way down to the halfway point of our small development in Gary, Indiana, my brother and I hoped to become more involved in Portage Midtown, a group we introduced in the last installment of this series. Among the group’s objectives is the creation of an ecosystem of small developers in South Bend, Indiana. It sees itself as a catalyst for building ecosystems, not networks.
“Using nature as a metaphor is more powerful,” explained Mike Keen, on the difference between the two words. Keen is the principal of Thrive Michiana, the group behind Portage Midtown. In practical terms, he says, Portage Midtown’s players in the development process work together and the outcomes are “collaborative, balanced, and locally oriented.” He added, “We are not looking for extractive or predatory flippers, but town makers who strengthen the fabric of their neighborhoods.”
Keen advocates that locals who have their heart, not just a profit motive, rebuild and benefit from their renovations. Flippers, he says, often have no ties to the community. “Our experience is that they come in, do the least they can, and take shortcuts to make a profit,” he explained.
Working with town makers is an incremental approach to redevelopment that takes time, he admits. “We try to train people who live in the neighborhood to be developers.” Developing their own neighborhood isn’t a “source of income” for them, “but a way of life,” he continued.
Howard Ways, an urban planner and educator based in Metro Washington, DC, supports Keen’s objectives but adds that his major concern is that people don’t often separate economic gentrification from cultural gentrification. He encourages people to buy where they live or do business there so they can control their destiny and reap any short-term and long-term economic benefits. “When you own the property, you have a greater stake in the outcome of the neighborhood and a greater stake in preserving the culture, too,” he says.
Before spreading redevelopment in the former home of Studebaker (the car manufacturer), Keen was a professor of urban studies and sustainability. He began his incremental development career by buying and renovating properties and about 20 vacant lots in what is now Portage Midtown. Soon, he and members of his ecosystem found themselves with what they dub a “farm,” an area of several blocks they are systematically working to cultivate.
In addition to building and teaching, Portage Midtown also advocates on behalf of small developers. They work with government officials to point out the inequities of opportunities such as local governments making capital available only to large developers via tax increment financing deals. In addition, Portage Midtown encourages local officials to redirect conventional economic development resources—tax incentives, pass-through block grants, and one-time deals like COVID stimulus money—to small developers.
One example of the support a large developer received from the Gary Common Council was a tax abatement worth an estimated $669,000 for the developer behind the 38-unit Broadway Lofts in downtown Gary. The subsidy comes out to a little more than $17,600 per unit. Three years later, the developer, now known as Pivotal Housing Partners, is asking the city to support another project with a contribution of $2.6 million.
In South Bend, located on the Indiana and Michigan border, known as Michiana, the city “changed their zoning codes to make small development more doable,” Keen explained. Before the city changed one of its building codes, I had to get “36 variances (to the code) to just put seven houses back where seven houses used to be and it cost us $12,000,” he says. The cost was passed on to buyers, making the homes more expensive.
The code called for off-street parking in the urban, suburban, and rural parts of St. Joseph County, of which South Bend is a part. Keen successfully advocated that the city change the code to allow on-street parking in urban Portage Midtown, making future homes built in the denser areas less expensive and easing South Bend’s and America’s housing shortage.
Next in the Series: What’s Driving the American Housing Shortage
Gary native Wayne Young is the publisher of Port of Harlem magazine. Founded by Young in 1995, the magazine is inclusive, diverse, and Pan-African. He is also president of the Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership, which funds and manages small projects centering around culture, education, and community in the West African nation. He recently repurposed his parents’ home in Gary into a short-term rental.
Wayne A. Young
Gary native Wayne Young is the publisher of Port of Harlem magazine. Founded by Young in 1995, the magazine is inclusive, diverse, and Pan-African. He is also president of the Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership, which funds and manages small projects centering around culture, education, and community in the West African nation. He recently repurposed his parents’ home in Gary into a short-term rental.
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