Statement from Mayor Jerome A. Prince on recent settlement:
“Yesterday, the Redevelopment Commission (RDC) reached a settlement with Akyumen. Under the terms of the agreement, our City will regain full control of the Genesis Center and the former Ivanhoe Gardens properties and will make them available for interested developers. Also, our City will not pay anything additional to the company. Instead, we are only issuing a partial refund of $35,000 of the closing costs Akyumen previously paid.
In 2020, the RDC entered into an agreement with Akyumen to develop the two properties. Unfortunately, the arrangement did not work out, and, last July, the RDC sued Akyumen.
Initially, we approached the arrangements with Akyumen with great enthusiasm because it would have provided a great boost to our vision to transform Gary into a technology hub. Now, I’m excited we again have the flexibility to reimagine these two properties and transform them into exceptional opportunities for the City of Gary.
On behalf of the residents of Gary and my administration, I look forward to moving full speed ahead on developing the Genesis Center and Ivanhoe Gardens properties.”
