By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – The city of Warsaw has received a proposal to redevelop the old Gatke property.

The property includes numerous dilapidated buildings west of South McKinley Street and south of Durbin Street and has not been used in decades.

While the city has received interest in redeveloping the land in recent years, this one stands out compared to the others, said Jeremy Skinner, director of community and economic development for the city.

But the proposal would require numerous actions to fall into place and would rely on financial assistance from the city in a very tight timeline, Skinner said.

“There’s a lot of things that would have to be done on a lot of different fronts,” Skinner said.

Skinner declined to suggest what the plan could entail and did not identify the developer.

Previous plans for the property have been pie-in-the-sky compared to what the city learned recently.

“This is significantly more legit,” Skinner said. “This is a developer who has developed projects all across the state.”

The subject came up Monday, Nov. 1, at the city redevelopment commission meeting when the board considered a request from NIPSCO to use some of the Gatke property as a staging area for work on the upcoming roundabout construction at the corner of Winona Avenue, Argonne Road, Kings Highway and Park Avenue.

NIPSCO requested the use of the property, which is owned by the city, for a period extending to June 30 of 2022.

The commission approved an amended agreement with NIPSCO in which the city could opt out and give the utility company 30 days to vacate if necessary.