To create the new Chicago Dash parking lot and an overall transportation-oriented district, Valparaiso wants to buy the old Anco plant where the west end of Brown Street meets the starts of South Campbell Street.
The Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission approved going into negotiations for the land on Feb. 9, and last month, the Commission approved negotiating for some land owned by Smith Ready Mix east of Anco, although at the Jan. 4 City Council meeting, Redevelopment Commission Acting Executive Director Stu Summers said the city won’t relocate Smith or Von Tobel’s north of that.
City Economic Development Director Patrick Lyp confirmed that if the city’s successful in the real estate purchase, the Chicago Dash parking lot will move from it’s current area at Campbell and Lincolnway to the former factory for more parking.
The property is owned by the Worstell business trust and is currently in receivership, Lyp said.
Valparaiso doesn’t intend to tear down the entire plant, which now houses Homenclature and Levy Technical Laboratories on the south end, Lyp said.
The city will determine which buildings need to come down and “the intent would be to save and repurpose as much as possible,” he said.
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That includes keeping the existing businesses.
Although the city’s had concerns about the existing water tower and its appearance, it was judged structurally sound by City Building Department Director Vicki Thrasher, who worked with the receivership, Lyp said.
The Jan. 4 City Council meeting, Summers said the planned move would increase the parking places for the Chicago Dash commuter line from the roughly 120 to 300 cars and that the VLine bus service, which provides local bus service, would likely share the site.
Lyp said at the time that the new site would be near the CSX railroad tracks for any potential trains coming to Valparaiso.
The city originally had planned to spend $22 million for the area, which included a “water feature” that some referred to as a canal and would’ve had Napoleon Street go through to U.S. 30.
However, the current project is estimated at $13 million and won’t have those and other features, city officials said Jan. 4.
James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.