Highland (Indianapolis, Hammond, Merrillville: foreclosures, landscaping, theater)

[MyTarge13]

I would love to see an Acura dealer in Highland. That is a great idea. However, even a Tofu stand would be better than an extended stay motel!

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by MyTarge13

I would love to see an Acura dealer in Highland. That is a great idea. However, even a Tofu stand would be better than an extended stay motel!

I have the same feeling. However, have you seen the new Prairie Square? It exactly exceeded my expectation of what I thought it would be. And since it is extended stay (and basically is just an apartment complex), at least you won't be seeing daily and hourly rate type activity going on. The monthly rents for the 12 month leases are high and so the shorter leases are definitely more prohibitive to it becoming a riffraff type place. And as this is one of the only new rental complexes in Highland, the demand will b very high and keep prices high for at least several years to come. On the bright side, at least Highland doesn't have the same type of rental problem that Merrillville has with an over saturation of apartments and high high crime in those areas.

[Northwest Indiana]

I have tried this restaurant at Orland and it is not bad!

New soup restaurant to open in Highland

Also, they are building a Taco Bell restaurant on the side closer to Discount Tire. I have not seen a new taco bell built anywhere in a long time except for the Taco Bell/A&W combos in Chicago but that was about 10 years ago...so I googled for what new Taco Bell's look like and they look very modern! I do not like that restaurant at all, but hope that it looks this nice!

[valpofan11]

I like Highland's redevelopment efforts. Unbeknownst to the majority of the public, Highland is rapidly diversifying. School Town of Highland is now 62% white and 28% Hispanic. Just an interesting point. Highland is a good buy for young families because it has quality older homes at a much more affordable price than many surrounding areas like Munster. Worried that the town will not be able to hold onto people who want to move up and see CP, Tri-Town, Munster as more attractive. It will be interesting to see what Highland is like in 10 years.

[JeffSanDimas]

Originally Posted by valpofan11

I like Highland's redevelopment efforts. Unbeknownst to the majority of the public, Highland is rapidly diversifying. School Town of Highland is now 62% white and 28% Hispanic. Just an interesting point. Highland is a good buy for young families because it has quality older homes at a much more affordable price than many surrounding areas like Munster. Worried that the town will not be able to hold onto people who want to move up and see CP, Tri-Town, Munster as more attractive. It will be interesting to see what Highland is like in 10 years.

Why is that a good thing, that's really sad that the town is turning into a ghetto. Those poor kids at the school.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by JeffSanDimas

Why is that a good thing, that's really sad that the town is turning into a ghetto. Those poor kids at the school.

Highland is most definitely not turning into a ghetto...at all...lol

Highland had and continues to have the lowest foreclosure rates in Northwest Indiana...Lower than areas seen as more desirable such as Munster, Tri-Town, Valpo and Crown Point (CP which had one of the highest actually)...ghetto areas do not have decent home-ownership rates or low foreclosure rates. Highland also is a safe town (although recently, there had been some ISOLATED incidents that have occurred).

And according to your profile, you live in Simi Valley??? The demographics of that area are almost similar to that of the School Town of Highland, save for having a higher Asian population and a slightly lower Black population...the actual Town of Highland is actually much less diverse than where you appear to live...so either you live in a "ghetto" but accept it because its warmer and you can't afford to move or you really don't live in Simi Valley and who knows why it's on your profile. But just remember that the Whitest areas are not always the most desirable, across the board. It's more complex than just race and ethnicity lol.

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by valpofan11

I like Highland's redevelopment efforts. Unbeknownst to the majority of the public, Highland is rapidly diversifying. School Town of Highland is now 62% white and 28% Hispanic. Just an interesting point. Highland is a good buy for young families because it has quality older homes at a much more affordable price than many surrounding areas like Munster. Worried that the town will not be able to hold onto people who want to move up and see CP, Tri-Town, Munster as more attractive. It will be interesting to see what Highland is like in 10 years.

I wouldn't say that it is "rapidly" diversifying, but it is becoming less White as many areas in NWI are. Highland itself isn't really growing too much. It just had a much older population that is majority White. The younger families moving in are still mostly White but there are hispanic families moving in as well (and Highland has had a hispanic presence for a long time now). Hispanic families also tend to be much larger and multi-generational as well. Also, it is mainly just that group that is growing. The Black and Asian population is still rather small. Crown Point on the other hand while still very white, also has a significant Black population (around 10% or so) but it is mainly north of 101st. Now, it is growing south of 101st (mainly in the Winfield area). Valpo Black population is also growing from being concentrated to specific areas or apartments in Valpo to more outward into newer subdivision.

To date, I think the only place in NWI that has "rapidly" changed in recent years is Merrillville (going from predominantly White to predominantly Black in about 10-15 years). Everywhere else has either been somewhat of a slow change or not much change at all.

[Northwest Indiana]

This is very good to see! Highland may not be the fanciest places, but it is definitely one of the most stable places. I still keep looking back at the fact that Highland fared the best out of all areas in NWI during the housing crisis and having a good tax collection rate on top of that helps. Good to see the town and school district working together.

Highland civil, school leaders cooperate on major project

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

I have the same feeling. However, have you seen the new Prairie Square? It exactly exceeded my expectation of what I thought it would be. And since it is extended stay (and basically is just an apartment complex), at least you won't be seeing daily and hourly rate type activity going on. The monthly rents for the 12 month leases are high and so the shorter leases are definitely more prohibitive to it becoming a riffraff type place. And as this is one of the only new rental complexes in Highland, the demand will b very high and keep prices high for at least several years to come. On the bright side, at least Highland doesn't have the same type of rental problem that Merrillville has with an over saturation of apartments and high high crime in those areas.

I wanted to update this because I decided to see if rent prices have increased since the original leases...I really do not know what to say other than with these types of prices, I really have just about zero concern anymore for this development going downhill anytime soon. Jeez

Prairie Square

[bschaffy]

My wife and I bought our first house in Highland in 2009. We were 24&25 years old. Was a great place and town to live in and I really and truly miss our elderly neighbors! We lived right off the bike trail and I sure do miss the bike trail practically in my back yard as well. We started our family in Highland and it was a great starter home for us but we quickly outgrew the 1250sqft ranch home with a finished basement. We could have been just fine there, however, just we decided to move to Crown Point and build a house after 5 years of living there.
This is just my opinion about Highland. Seems like mostly older/retired people currently live in highland. Which is fine except what I noticed is we were literally the only couple on our block to have kids except one who had high school aged kids. The rest were all retired, I know because I knew just about everyone on the block. This means as the older folks leave or die, the homes are selling for cheap since they are likely outdated. I say this because in the 5 years of living on our block, 3 people died and each of those homes on my block sold for approx $40-$50,000 less than our home, which as i mentioned wasn't a large home by any means and is a lot of money when average home prices are around $140,000-$150,000 or so. Maybe this was just my block, but home prices where they are for highland, young people like we were will move in or people not caring about their home will start coming in as the elder start exiting their homes for one reason or another. Don't get me wrong, I liked highland especially access to the bike trail, but I wouldnt say highland was super geared towards families with young kids as there didn't seem to be many, at least near us. Most of my neighbors were the original owners of the 1960s homes including the ones right next door who paid $12,000 for that house in 1960.
Where we are now in Crown Point has tons of kids in the neighborhood and has more families like us. Probably about how highland started about 50yrs ago. My guess, more young people buying in highland will move once they have families. Even the student population has gone down in the schools every year last the time I looked. In the mean time, highland is pretty stable but I can't help but feel like that is going to end soon in the next 10 years or so. I think Munster is a reason why Highland has stayed stable and help keep people in highland. But Munster and highland are about out of space for expanding, people will move to the new and shiny areas.