The Genesis Towers senior living complex in downtown Gary wants to develop a park across the street, and Gary Redevelopment Commission officials were presented with visions of residents enjoying outdoor barbecues and dances within the park.
Jasmine Wright, of Redevelopment VISTA, who in recent months has worked with Ivy Tech Community College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to come up with design ideas for the park, made a presentation April 4 to the redevelopment commission.
Wright presented two visions – one containing amenities and a second, scaled back version. Both would be fit into the site at 6th Avenue and Broadway across the street from Genesis Towers.
Her preferred vision has a cost of $5,302 and includes a granite pathway, restroom facilities, lighting, a barbecue grill, landscaping and a privacy fence that would enable Genesis Towers management to control who has access to the park.
The scaled-back version would have a cost of $2,697 and eliminates an on-site restroom along with the landscaping, but Wright said would still provide recreational amenities for Genesis Tower residents. Park designs would allow for up to 200 people at a time to be on the grounds.
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Wright told the redevelopment commission officials that her talks with Genesis Towers officials have her convinced the elderly residents who live in the one-time Hotel Gary in the heart of downtown need a place nearby where they can go outdoors and feel safe.
She said she has been told of some residents who rarely leave the floor of the room they live in.
Wright said that development of a senior park across the street would provide a space for the barbecues and the dances that Genesis Towers officials have expressed interest in offering to their residents.
“These events would engage the residents, and also get many of them to go outside,” she said. “Many of them don’t go outside because they don’t think it’s safe.”
Redevelopment Vice President Gary Reaves said he believes the city will be able to afford the more costly version because both of them are affordable. Executive Director Joseph Van Dyk pointed out that $5,000 is the level of spending at which projects must be bid, meaning it might be cheap enough that officials can just go ahead and award contracts for work without having to seek competitive bids.
Redevelopment officials did not take any action toward the park’s development, although Van Dyk said officials may proceed with approving some sort of plan for the park when they meet again April 18.
Actual work toward developing a park at the site could take place this summer.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.