RDA Establishes Land Development Entity to Accelerate Development in Northwest Indiana

RDA’s new nonprofit subsidiary aims to assemble and remediate challenging properties in order to facilitate private sector investment and development.

The Board of Directors of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority today approved the creation of a nonprofit subsidiary designed to boost development and private sector investment in Northwest Indiana. This Land Development Entity (LDE) will accelerate redevelopment by assisting with assembling, acquiring, and stabilizing challenging properties, providing added capacity and expertise, and operating collaboratively with local municipal entities.

“The Land Development Entity is a critical step to take if we are to maximize the investments that the RDA has spearheaded in Northwest Indiana, including the $1.5 billion Double Track and West Lake commuter rail projects and more than $100 million in shoreline restoration and revitalization initiatives in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Portage,” said RDA President and CEO Sherri Ziller. “It will put these unique assets to work for the whole Region, opening up possibilities for investment and development that were closed off, until now.”

The LDE was approved following a public hearing held at the RDA’s offices in Crown Point. Prior to public comments, RDA Director of Economic Development provided the Board with the rationale behind the creation of an LDE.

“While we were preparing the 2025 update to our Comprehensive Strategic Plan, one of the things that came up over and over again talking with folks in the communities, in the private sector and in the not-for profit sector in the need for land assemblage,” Bytnar said. “Due to a variety of circumstances, including Northwest Indiana’s industrial history, some properties have been left behind, when it be through abandonment, through brownfields, or through buildings that are functionally obsolete.”

The LDE will be able to work with local communities to address these challenging properties, incentivizing private sector development and returning these properties to the tax rolls. goals. While the LDE will seek grant funding from various sources to implement projects, the RDA is committing an initial $5 million in seed money so that the LDE can begin operations as soon as possible.

With the LDE approved, “we plan to spend the balance of this year engaging local communities that may be able to participate and help guide project priorities for the entity itself, as well as the private sector because ultimately this a tool for both the public and private sectors to be able to address issues that exist within the marketplace itself,” Bytnar concluded.

Video of the hearing is available on the RDA’s YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/BvwbUAjaLmo. Materials from the hearing may be found on the documents page of the RDA’s website, www.in.gov/rda.