{"id":3168,"date":"2018-07-17T22:43:05","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T03:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcjournal.thegraphicgeek.com\/?p=3168"},"modified":"2018-07-17T22:43:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T03:43:05","slug":"michigan-city-one-step-closer-to-downtown-plaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegraphicgeek.com\/demo-mcj\/michigan-city-one-step-closer-to-downtown-plaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan City One Step Closer to Downtown Plaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>MICHIGAN CITY, Ind.\u00a0<\/strong>&#8212; Residents and business owners in Michigan City are excited now that the city is one step closer to achieving its goal of a downtown plaza in hopes of revitalizing the downtown area and increasing business for local business owners.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the City Council voted Thursday night to approve the purchase of a building and property located at 709 Franklin Street which is one of the last plots of land the city is looking at converting into a plaza.<\/p>\n<p>The building, according to officials, has been vacant for quite some time and suffered damage after demolition crews dropped a beam on the building while demolishing a previous structure that was once located directly next to it.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the damage, the former law office suffered water damage and mold issues.<\/p>\n<p>Although the purchase of the land and building is part of a project headed by the city&#8217;s Redevelopment\u00a0Commission, City Council members were required to vote on approving the purchase since the sale price exceeded the appraisal.<\/p>\n<p>The property was valued at $235,000 according to a 2017 appraisal, however, the seller of the property was asking $450,000. Members of the Redevelopment\u00a0Commission managed to negotiate a final price of $310,000 which was still $75,000 over the appraised\u00a0value.<\/p>\n<p>Although some council members expressed their concerns about the price, the purchase was approved with a 9-0 vote concluding that even though that price was more than the appraised value, the purchase was in the best interest of the future economic growth of Michigan City.<\/p>\n<p>Over 15 attendees addressed the council during the meeting, mostly business owners on Franklin Street, to express their support of the purchase adding that the plaza would be a vital improvement to not only businesses on Franklin Street but also other nearby businesses and residents throughout the city.<\/p>\n<p>The plaza\u00a0project is part of an effort to increase business in the downtown district by giving residents a place to attend more events throughout the year such as ice-skating during the winter, art shows, and more, including providing extra space for First Fridays.<\/p>\n<p>According to studies conducted by several market analysis companies, cities with a downtown square or plaza have seen an increase in foot traffic, sales, and business growth since its addition.<\/p>\n<p>Officials believe the same will be true with Michigan City&#8217;s downtown area and hope that the new plaza will provide a comfortable space to add new events and increase attendance at current events like First Friday, Shelf Ice Brew Fest, and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan City Council members approve the purchase of 709 Franklin Street bringing them one step closer to completing a downtown plaza in hopes of revitalizing the downtown area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26726,"featured_media":3169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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