Group Looking to Restore Gary Union Station
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA grant from Indiana Landmarks aims to help give new life to the 108-year-old Union Station in Gary. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report an arts collective and urban preservationist group known as the Decay Devils, which purchased the building last year, will use the grant to determine the cost to restore it.
The $3,500 grant will go toward the $5,000 cost to have an engineering firm assess the work that needs to be done to make the building habitable. The group is covering the remainder of the cost.
"This will really get the ball rolling," Decay Devils President Tyrell Anderson tells The Times. "It will give us a baseline of what the current condition is, what they suggest we do with it, and how much it will cost. Once we know what’s needed to make it stable, we can go to potential funders and sponsors and get the restoration underway."
Anderson says the assessment should be complete next month, at which point the group will begin seeking more grant funding to help with the restoration. He tells the publication at the very least, they will need to make sure the building is stabilized, fix the cracking concrete and demolish the remainder of the caved-in roof.
The group says it is also considering options for future uses of the building, which could include an art gallery, a business incubator and a railway museum, among others.