Ground broken for apartments at site of new South Shore train station in Michigan City

MICHIGAN CITY — Developer Flaherty & Collins Properties broke ground March 14 on The Franklin at 11th Street Station, a 12-story, 220-apartment tower in the city’s Uptown Arts District.

Located beside the new South Shore Line commuter train station in Michigan City, the 1.5-acre site at 11th and Franklin streets will also include a 549-space parking garage beside the tower with electric vehicle charging stations.

The parking garage will be available to tenants and South Shore riders.

Construction is expected to be completed for tenants to start moving in by fall of 2025.

Other planned amenities include a heated swim/spa with an adjacent outdoor movie lounge, an outdoor rooftop sky lounge providing scenic views of Lake Michigan, courtyard grilling decks and fire pits, and a dog park.

The apartments will have LED lighting, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, full size washers and dryers, and private balconies on most units.

David Flaherty, co-owner of the Indianapolis-based development firm, said monthly rent has not been set but should begin at about $1,500.

Sixty-eight percent of the units will have one bedroom, while 20% will contain two bedrooms.

What’s left, for the most part, will be studio apartments, with three-bedroom units filling out the rest.

The average size of the apartments will be close to 800 square feet.

Flaherty said the main level will be available for retail and other commercial establishments, such as a restaurant, perhaps, or coffee shop.

He expects to draw mostly young professionals and empty nesters to the $101 million development on the site of the old South Shore commuter line train station, which was torn down.

“We’re happy to have anybody," he said. "We do a lot of these types of developments, and the reality is that’s who we get.”

Flaherty said a lot of the residents will likely come from Chicago to take advantage of the nearly completed South Shore commuter line double track from Gary to Michigan City.

The addition of a second line — announced in 2013 — is expected to reduce travel times in a train from Michigan City to Chicago by about 30 minutes.

Flaherty said he also expects to attract some Michigan City residents who want to stay but don’t have much to choose from in the city in terms of an upgrade in their housing.

Flaherty said he expects to have about 300 employees at the facility, which will generate over $800,000 in annual real estate taxes on a parcel currently generating little, if any, property tax revenue.

In September, a ground breaking was held for a 14-story hotel tower and 12-story condominium tower about a half-mile away on U.S. 12.

So far, there’s been no actual construction on that site.

Michigan City Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch said a half dozen other developers have expressed interest in Michigan City because of the increase in new residents and visitors that quicker travel by train is expected to bring.

Trains are expected to start running between Michigan City and Gary on the double track in May.

“This is only the beginning of something great,” she said.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Shore Line apartments have ground broken in Michigan City