Gary Indiana - University Park

University Park - Land Usage

The Quality of Parks, Trails and Open Space

• There is substantial open space around the University Park neighborhood.
• This includes the city’s largest public open space, Gleason Park and the Little Calumet River corridor.

CHALLENGES

• Not all the open space is accessible from the neighborhood.
• There is a shortage of small neighborhood parks for residents, families and children.
• There are few amenities within Gleason Park.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Parks, trails and open space are an amenity that could attract new residents to the neighborhood.
• The Little Calumet River Corridor can bring visitors to the neighborhood.
• The flood control plain is a major open space resource that could be accessed from the neighborhood.
• Gleason Park is a major city park resource directly adjacent to the University Park neighborhood.
• Benjamin Franklin Elementary School provides a considerable amount of open land in the center of the community.

Oppportunities for Development and Renovation

University Park offers a number of opportunities to accommodate new residential, institutional, retail or office development without displacing existing residents. These opportunities include:

• Vacant Land
  • Residential lots, groups of lots and larger sections of residential blocks that were never developed.
  • Underutilized Land
  • Surface parking lots where active retail, office or residential buildings would contribute more to the neighborhood
• Vacant Buildings
  • Single family homes and neighborhood retail buildings.
• Undeveloped Land
  • North of 33rd Avenue, within a previously identified flood plain that is being
    de-designated after creation of a new levee wall that follows the Little Calumet River Corridor
• Other Development Opportunities
  • Opportunities outside the target area that could serve residents, students, workers and visitors.