Gary forecast 2022.

• Author: Rao, Surekha

Northwest Indiana is getting its mojo back! There is a sense of optimism in the air. After a long hiatus, the winds of sanguinity are blowing in Northwest Indiana. (1) In 2021, Amazon opened a "last-mile" delivery depot, a 141,000-square-foot warehouse in Merrillville, and Domino's Pizza broke ground for a supply chain center, a 110,000-square-foot facility at the Ameriplex at the Crossroads business park (also in Merrillville). Amazon is likely to bring 300 jobs and Domino's another 140 jobs. Amazon has invested more than $30 million in land, building and equipment for the facility. The Dominos facility will bring an investment of about $48 million.

In early 2021, Indiana's newest land-based casino, the $300 million Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, celebrated its grand opening in Gary. University of Chicago Medicine is planning an expansion in Crown Point, with a 116,000-square-foot medical facility and a micro-hospital beginning in 2022. And the housing market in Northwest Indiana is skyrocketing, with more people wanting to move into the region to escape Illinois' higher property taxes and cost of living. Northwest Indiana is back in business.

Northwest Indiana is no longer just the home of steel mills and large manufacturing, but increasingly a place where small businesses find a business-friendly climate and a wealth of local resources to them help them succeed and thrive. Small business is a big business now in Northwest Indiana. Availability of talent from three local universities provide a ready workforce for both traditional and new technology-oriented businesses. The Northwest Indiana Forum (NWI Forum), Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC), Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center (Indiana SBDC) and Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) provide excellent resources and support for small businesses and promote entrepreneurship, bringing economic development to the region.

Parts of Northwest Indiana, commonly referred to as Chicagoland, are now also being known as the eastern suburbs of Chicago. While the residents of the four-county Gary Metropolitan Division (referred to in this article as the Gary metro for simplicity) already enjoy several benefits from their proximity to Chicago, the real transformation is about to happen with two huge projects that involve improvements to commuter rail service in Northwest Indiana: the expansion of West Lake Corridor and double tracking of the South Shore...