Report: Smartphone Project for Gary Dead
Akyumen said it would convert Gary's Genesis Convention Center into its HQ
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowDreams of thousands of new, high-tech jobs from a 200,000-square-foot smartphone manufacturing plant in Gary have disappeared. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report the city is suing California-based consumer electronics manufacturer Akyumen Technologies for failing to live up to announced plans.
In January, Gary Mayor Jerome Prince joined the company to previously announce the multi-million-dollar project. Akyumen said it intended to build its new headquarters and manufacturing facility and produce 5G smartphones.
Akyumen founder Aasim Saied said last winter the investment would create more than 2,000 jobs over three to five years.
The publication says Gary Redevelopment Commission is suing to take back the Genesis Convention Center and Ivanhoe Gardens, a long since abandoned housing project site. The company said the convention center would serve as a pre-production site while the facility was under construction.
The city says Akyumen failed to pay $2.5 million it owed on the Genesis Center by July 27, putting the company in default and in breach of contract. The city is now looking at other options.
“My team and I will continue to look for ways we can make the most of vacant or underutilized properties and put them on our tax rolls, and these two properties will be ideal for the right developers,” said Prince.
Prince says the city will never be able to move forward unless it is willing to try new approaches to development. Read the full story from The Times of Northwest Indiana be clicking here.