University of Notre Dame teaming up with Gary, Indiana to redevelop city’s downtown [Video]

GARY, Ind. (WLS) — Notre Dame is teaming up with Gary in an effort to redevelop and revitalize the city’s downtown.

The initiative is designed to help businesses grow and residents thrive.

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Blight is nearly everywhere you look in downtown Gary.

For example, a crumbling, abandoned church sits right next to an apartment building, where many senior citizens live.

“If you look at that structure, that gives you some context of how beautiful Gary still is, but how beautiful it once was,” Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said.

And Melton, a native of Gary, said plans are underway to build a new and improved downtown.

City officials announced the first phase of a revitalization project Tuesday.

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It’s a collaboration with Notre Dame’s School of Architecture’s Housing and Community Regeneration Initiative.

“Together, we will create a vision and an action …