(La Porte, IN) - Construction of more single family residences has been completed in LaPorte where officials are pushing to update an aging housing stock.

 

Two of four newly built town homes overlooking Fish Trap Lake and priced at about $700,000 have already been sold. 

 

Each of the new two story dwellings containing three to four bedrooms include a basement and common area containing a swimming pool and fitness center.

 

“They’re absolutely beautiful,” said LaPorte Economic Advancement Partnership Executive Director Bert Cook.

 

Work is about begin on putting up four more town houses at the edge of the small lake on MCClung Road on the city’s north side.  Cook said there will be 12 town homes once the final two phases are completed at East Shore Preserve.

 

The city helped make the development a reality by annexing the ground in 2020 to provide municipal water and sewer to the site at the request of the developers.

 

One of the developers, Jerry Fedorchak, gave thanks to Mayor Tom Dermody and other city officials during a Wednesday ribbon cutting.

 

“This is what happens when we get a good relationship between private industry and government.  We can’t be more thankful,” he said.

 

Fedorchak is still working on plans that could include about a dozen more town houses and professional office space across the street on East Shore Parkway. Professional office space as part of the same development was created there two-years ago.

 

“We’re real excited about this area,” he said.

 

A recent study by SB Friedman Development Advisors of Chicago revealed the city where most housing was constructed before 1940 needs to add close to two-thousand or more new homes over the next few years.

 

The mayor wants to increase the city’s long dormant population by one-third to 30,000 by 2030.

 

Cook said new housing at every price level will help attract new residents who often go elsewhere because of the limited options here.  More existing residents looking for a housing upgrade will also be able to find what they want without leaving, he said.

 

“Eventually, people get tired and say I can’t look anymore. I can’t find anything in LaPorte so I’ll go over to Chesterton or I’ll go to Valparaiso or I’ll go to Mishawaka or Elkhart.  They have housing stock,” he said.

 

The city seems off to a good start with 200 resort type apartments near Clear Lake opening within the last year.

 

More new single family homes are continuing to be added to Meadowview subdivision on the city’s southeast side.

 

A once condemned 50 unit apartment building downtown reopened last year following an extensive modernization.

 

Cook said construction is expected to begin this year on about 30 more affordably priced homes on shovel ready sites near Kesling Park and the former Tibma Bakery site. Plans are also in the works for dozens of higher end single family homes along Beechwood Golf Course.

           

Cook said he’s not sure if he’d call what’s happening a “housing boom.” However, he said there’s definitely been growth from a market allowed to emerge from adding options to the housing menu.

 

“This is pent up demand in La Porte that has existed for years so we got a lot of work to do to catch up with our neighbors,” he said.