The Target store being built in Portage isn’t going to be lonely. It’s bringing seven other stores to the same development.
Ross, Burlington, TJ Maxx, PetSmart and Five Below are coming, along with two other tenants not yet named, the Plan Commission learned Monday.
The commission gave its approval to separate one of the outlots into five lots and the other into two lots.
Josh Williams, design engineer with Kimley-Horn Associates, said the two buildings for the unnamed tenants would be 8,400 and 10,000 square feet.
The Board of Zoning Appeals is expected to hear a request for variances regarding the building materials used, he said.
Simon CRE is developing the Target property, as well as the outlots.
The board also voted 5-1 to offer a favorable recommendation to the City Council for rezoning 30 acres at the 5500 block of U.S. 6, near Swanson Road, for a luxury apartment complex. Redwood USA requested the rezoning from C2, commercial, to M2, multifamily.
Council President Victoria Vasquez voted no. Member Bill Moran abstained.
Redwood USA, which plans to build about 150 units at the site, isn’t proposing large apartment buildings. These would be more like townhouses, single-story buildings with a two-car garage for each unit.
Gregory Thurman, Redwood’s vice president of acquisitions, said the company has built 200 neighborhoods and 23,000 units across nine states.
“We have quite a few Redwood neighborhoods up and down the highway,” he said. “We’re very, very familiar with the Indiana market and are very successful with that.”
The apartments are popular with empty-nesters, with the average renter’s age at 51, Thurman said.
With about seven children per 100 homes, “we’re very low load on the school system, which is a benefit to most communities,” he said.
Amid declining enrollment, Portage Township Schools closed Aylesworth Elementary School this year, to be demolished this summer to make way for a new middle school.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, “we began appealing to young professionals who have decided they don’t want to put their money into fee-simple ownership,” Thurman said.
First responders, graduate students and pilots are among the types of young professionals the developments attract. “We see a nice group of young professionals who are adding to our market share.”
Rents will vary from approximately $2,500 to $3,500 for one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging in size from about 900 square feet to about 1,600 square feet, Thurman said. Each unit will feature granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.
About 21% of tenants stay five years or longer, “which is pretty remarkable for apartment living,” Thurman said.
Vasquez noted Redwood plans to retain 3.8 acres for commercial use. How would that zoning change benefit the community if the available commercial land shrinks, she asked.
Thurman said the 3.8 acres would attract small businesses at best.
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The apartments would be a big boost for the city’s tax base, he noted. “We stand up approximately $1 million of tax base for every four units we build,” he said. “This would be a substantial enhancement for the use of that property.”
“This is an exceptional opportunity to capture both housing units and commercial property that might be viable,” he said.
The board also gave a favorable recommendation for Dayton Street Partners to revive a previously granted request for a planned unit development on nearly 39 acres at Interstate 94 and Willowcreek Road. The developer got permission from the council for a virtually identical plan in 2021, attorney Todd Leeth said.
What’s different this time is that Dayton Street Partners plans to turn Coca-Cola Avenue and Marine Drive into cul-de-sacs.
After the developer failed to find tenants in the post-pandemic era, the planned development reverted to its original business park zoning on Nov 2, 2024.
With the pandemic passed, Dayton Street Partners wants to try again to develop the site.
Resident Michael Cooper noted there’s an early childhood learning facility in the business park nearby and asked how the health and safety of those children could be affected by whatever companies locate there.
Dayton Street Partners plans three buildings at the site, Leeth said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.