$8 million investment aims to transform Gary’s shuttered Union Station into tech hub

Gary’s derelict Union Station is being reinvented as a “Fiber Smart House” courtesy of a $8 million renovation project that will break ground on Wednesday.

Slated to open in the fall of 2024, the facility will provide technology training and education to local residents, according to a joint statement from telecommunications firm Digital Equity, LLC and the city of Gary. It will also provide fiber access point for large networks, and serve as a business incubator and networking hub for local companies, nonprofits, and higher education institutions.

In addition to representatives from Digital Equity and the city, Indiana Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, Indiana State Senator Eddie Melton and representatives from U.S. Sen. Todd Young’s office will be on hand for the groundbreaking.

Designed by the architect M.A. Lang, Union Station opened in 1910, just four years after the city was founded. It was shut down in the 1950s and has not been maintained in the decades since. Weather and vandalism have left the building’s interior badly damaged, but its walls, which are made of steel-reinforced concrete, have endured. The station was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019, thanks in part to the efforts of the preservation group Decay Devils, which owns the site.

Local real estate investor and Decay Devils president Tyrell Anderson has long hoped to see the building rehabilitated.

“When we took on the renovation of the Gary Union Station in 2018, we never dreamed it could become a multi-purpose technology and business hub focused on developing the next generation of high-tech workforce,” Anderson said in the statement announcing the groundbreaking. “This is beyond our wildest imagination, and we are so happy for Gary.”

In the statement, Gary Mayor Jerome Prince cheered the investment in the the city, which has struggled economically for decades amid the decline of the steelmaking industry.

“Our city has a proud history and a bright future, and this development is as symbolic as it is significant,” said he said. “Choosing the iconic Gary Union Station as the home for this project is emblematic of where we have been and our vision for where we will go next. The establishment of the Fiber Smart House is a key first step toward leveling the digital playing field for our community and making Gary the Region’s launch point for this digital equity movement and technology hub in Northwest Indiana.”