st. John (Hammond, Merrillville, Schererville: best city, sales, leases)

[Northwest Indiana]

Does anyone know what is being developed on the land across 231 from Gates of St. John? It is right at the Park Pl & 231 intersection. The land is owned by "Mill Creek Development LLC" but I cannot find any information.

[iidreamtheaterii]

I had missed this when it came out but better late than never:

So the Comprehensive Plan for St. John originally had the future train station location planned in the Plaza right off US 41/kitty corner to Schilling. The new plan states the restrictions of space moves the new proposed location to the corner of US 231 and the tracks intersection, slightly east of US 41. They show some pretty nice planning images in their 2015 Comprehensive Plan https://www.stjohnin.com/Documents/St.%20John%20COP.pdf

I think this is a fantastic idea. Helps the possible congestion; forces a redeveloped 231 intersection and hope to include more bike Paths that can lead into it, really showcasing it as a true City Feel for commuters. Biking from the Gates or from future developments south of 231 makes a whole lot of sense.

It also calls out "Stone Creek" as a future development next door. I'll be watching that.

[Northwest Indiana]

I answered my question. The Mill Creek development is a subdivision of duplexes and single-family homes being developed by Olthof Homes directly south of Gates of St. John. I didn't know that the land was annexed into St. John and thought it was Cedar Lake. The surrounding land seems to still have Cedar Lake address. The duplex plans seem brand new by Olthof. I wonder if the single-family home plans will be new two. Olthof has really been trying to make a nicer looking product with better materials, primarily in the St. John area at least.

Also, here is the link to the 2015 Comprehensive plan update that iidreamtheaterii posted (but that link was broken).

https://www.stjohnin.com/Documents/C...esentation.pdf

I see that Schilling owns the land where "Stone Creek" is proposed and so it will probably be a nice development. The train station location there would be a lot easier to develop than the first option closer to the center of town; however, I think that a station in the center of town would be more appealing for most St. John residents. But at least the Stone Creek location would also appeal to Cedar Lake and some western Crown Point residents.

[iidreamtheaterii]

Sorry about the link break - sure messed that up!

Nice sleuthing on the Olthof btw!

I suppose it makes sense for Olthof to force the annex into St. John. You can ask more money for a St. John address than you can for a Cedar Lake address.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by iidreamtheaterii

Sorry about the link break - sure messed that up!

Nice sleuthing on the Olthof btw!

I suppose it makes sense for Olthof to force the annex into St. John. You can ask more money for a St. John address than you can for a Cedar Lake address.

Thanks! I try my best! And true, a St. John address would demand more than a Cedar Lake address (less so on the east side of Cedar Lake that is in CP schools). But even then, the area of St. John in Lake Central Schools still commands more overall. I really thought that ending the annexation at 231 to the south would have been it. Did not expect it to go past 231 though. I feel that if it goes any further past 231 than this development, there will be some serious opponents to it just like with Dyer trying to move south.

[iidreamtheaterii]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

Thanks! I try my best! And true, a St. John address would demand more than a Cedar Lake address (less so on the east side of Cedar Lake that is in CP schools). But even then, the area of St. John in Lake Central Schools still commands more overall. I really thought that ending the annexation at 231 to the south would have been it. Did not expect it to go past 231 though. I feel that if it goes any further past 231 than this development, there will be some serious opponents to it just like with Dyer trying to move south.

Very true regarding the schools. It just adds to the mess of town vs school district.

I think you're right in the sense that 231 was a pretty resounding line to use for keeping the towns separated. The only thing is that Cedar Lake is so focused in town and now thinking South to the Lowell Border that 231 is too far removed to worry about right now.

There's a decent comprehensive plan that Cedar Lake should be able to deliver on, and everything revolves around the lakefront (as it should) and south. There's such a large gap between 231 and the business district of Wicker for Cedar Lake that it would take a very long time to extend that far north. Might as well let St. John utilize it and use their infrastructure to populate the area into the hub (redeveloping the 231/41 intersections) that seem to be in their own comprehensive plan.

[Northwest Indiana]

Schilling gets rezoning for extension of The Preserves

With the way this subdivision is being described, I see it being basically a new version of Schillton Hills (which is good). It will have housing mostly in the $400-500k range but will be from various builders which will ensure a diverse array of styling and with $400-500k homes being the average, there will probably bee homes up to the $700k range sprinkled in there as well. An added bonus would be if this subdivision were able to incorporate the rolling hills that Lake Hills in St. John or Ellendale Farms in Crown Point has.

However, it also seemed like so many people were against this. People complained about losing the farmland but this was not some eminent domain here. The family whom owned the farm willingly sold the property to the developer. This will increase population in the town but it will also increase stability in town as well. If this was a subdivision of $150k-200k homes that were slapped together, I would be worried especially because those are usually the first neighborhoods to decline in towns. But St. John doesn't have to worry about that. Meanwhile in some areas like Crown Point and Winfield, while they both have very nice subdivisions, they also have their slapped together subdivisions as well that who knows how well they will hold up in 10-15 years.

In the coming years, I do believe that St. John should continue to focus on redeveloping their core such as with a Town Center (which I know those plans have its own challenges right now) but this subdivision is a great step forward for the town.

[Northwest Indiana]

There has been a lot of controversy about the St. John Town Center primarily from residents along Joliet Street whom would lose their homes...

Now, the town at first stated that all plans were just "conceptual" and there were no active plans to develop the Boyer-owned property just yet...however, MetroCRE--the same company marketing Centennial Village in Munster--is now marketing the town center area...interesting! I wonder what places will locate here? Rumor is that maybe a Mariano's would look there instead of the K-Mart property. Mariano's stores are known for having entrances that are rounded (almost like a turret) and the grocery site for Centennial Village and anchor site for St. John Town Center has buildings with this shape in mind.

[iidreamtheaterii]

As a commuter from Cedar Lake to Chicago on a daily basis, the development of Calumet Avenue and Exchange St (101st) has been on my radar since it's on my route..


With the announcement of the future of Illiana Christian High School coming to Shoe Corner, it was a matter of time before commercial expansion was on the table as well. http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...c1c87f623.html


With the Midwest Training and Ice Center Expansion on White Oak and the expansion to the small commercial plaza just west of Calumet/Exchange, it really does call for a revamp in the roadwork/sewers. The sewers right now are just ditches that the farmers were keeping tabs on throughout the area. With 2 lane roads and no direct path to Rt. 41, the congestion is going to explode when the High School gets put in and the weave from Exchange to Calumet Avenue to Rt. 231 continues to bottleneck.


Not to mention the 420 plots expected by the Shilling development at White Oak between 101st/93rd. http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...a3d3d5bd5.html


This whole area needs an overhaul to the roadwork infrastructure; not just a stoplight at the T-Intersetion. All of the farms in this stretch are bound to be turned into Subdivisions as Fair Ridge is already 1/3 of the way built out at Calumet/117th. Olthof is finishing their Saddle Creek Subdivision with signs for their final phase. They already of 2 subdivisions mixed into 1 area (Saddle Creek + Silverleaf). There's a LOT of land undeveloped and underutilized as workable farmland with all these plots being split up. It's going to be a bit chaotic without a long term plan in place.


Long Term Solution - It would take a lot, but extending 231 to actually meet up with I-394 is the right solution.

[Northwest Indiana]

So far proposed tenants of the development are Saint John Malt Brothers Brewing and O'Reilly Auto Parts.

As you can see on the site plan, proposed spaces include sandwich shop, physical therapy, fast casual restaurant, pet supplies store, craft supplies, fashion, junior anchor, and bakery.

While the site plan of this development looks nice (sort of like a mix between the more traditional-style Munster Shops and the more modern-style Lake Business Center) it does not seem like this development will be very upscale as far as tenants overall. I could imagine that the following other tenants may be a possibility here: McAlister's Deli, Chipotle or Qdoba, Hobby Lobby.

That's all I could think of now...would be interested to hear what other places people think may come!

St. John Town Center - Metro CRE