‘Fiber Smart House’ to revitalize historic Gary building
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now-
An exterior rendering of the Fiber Smart House (rendering provided)
-
An interior rendering of the Fiber Smart House (rendering provided)
The city of Gary and telecommunications development firm Digital Equity LLC broke ground Wednesday morning on an $8 million project designed to kickstart a multi-phase effort to create a tech community in northwest Indiana.
The Fiber Smart House will involve the rehabilitation of the historic Gary Union Station, which has sat abandoned for over five decades.
When complete, the Fiber Smart House will serve as a technology workforce and educational training hub for residents, as well as a network operations center and fiber access point for large networks.
Digital Equity Partner Tom Dakich told Inside INdiana Business said the project is the next generation of tech growth in the region.
“By taking this building that’s a strong building…and making it the center of fiber for northwest Indiana and putting in a network operation center that can be useful for emergency services in northwest Indiana and in Lake County, that’s an important part of it,” Dakich said.
But Gary Mayor Jerome Prince, the Gary City Council and Lake County Commissioners were adamant that the facility continue to serve the community beyond just providing fiber connectivity. That led to the addition of the workforce development and training element.
“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,” Prince said in a news release. “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.”
The Gary Union Station was built in 1910 and named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. Dakich said the 10,000-square-foot building was the hub of transportation in Gary until it was shuttered in the mid-1970s and has sat vacant since then.
The building at one point was included on Indiana Landmarks’ “10 Most Endangered” list, but was acquired by local real estate renovator Tyrell Anderson, president of preservation organization Decay Devils, which has been raising funds for the building’s revitalization.
“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 release. “This is beyond our wildest imagination, and we are so happy for Gary.”
Dakich says a group known as Quantum Corridor, which is comprised of several high-tech companies, has established a 157-mile fiber network that runs along the Indiana Toll Road in northwest Indiana, including right above the Gary Union Station building.
That prime location will allow the Fiber Smart House to serve as a fiber access point for the entire region, including public safety officials who could use the facility for emergency operations if needed.
The city says business owners will have the opportunity to incubate and obtain resources to grow, as well as partner with higher education institutions to build tech job pipelines. Dakich said the training partners for the tech job development aspect have yet to be determined, but will focus on next generation technologies, such as ChatGPT as well as a coding element.
Construction is expected to take about 18 months to complete.
The project adds to the growing tech ecosystem in northwest Indiana that began in 2020 with the opening of the $40 million 105,000-square-foot Digital Crossroads data center in Hammond.