Long-anticipated South Shore station opens in Michigan City

South Shore Line leaders and a host of public officials and private sector partners celebrated the opening of the commuter railroad’s new 11th Street Station Wednesday, while construction work continued on an adjoining $101 million mixed-use development inspired by the rail project.

“We really want this station to be welcoming to the entire community,” South Shore Line President Michael Noland said in remarks before a ribbon-cutting that heralded the station’s noon opening to the public.

The station itself includes a parking garage with 542 spaces — 437 reserved for South Shore passengers between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. weekdays — an interior seating area, restrooms, a concessions space and a graphic timeline of the railroad’s history. The station opens onto high-level platforms that have been in use for more than a year.

The station’s exterior is highlighted by the refurbished terra cotta façade from the old station building.

The former 11th Street Station — more of a “stop” than a “station” in its latter years, with on-street boarding and an outside shelter — closed in May 2021 for the Double Track project.

Describing Double Track as “at its core … an economic development project,” Noland said of the adjoining development, called The Franklin at 11th Street Station "the vision" motivating the rail project. "It’s what so many people shared when we sought funding, transforming a lightly used train stop … into the anchor for residential redevelopment and economic success.”

The Franklin will include 220 apartments and 5,600 square feet of commercial retail space, rising as high as 12 stories on the city block bounded by 10th, 11th, Franklin and Pine streets.

Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch, who emceed Wednesday’s event and cut the ceremonial ribbon, expressed her pleasure with the decision city leaders made to make the project more than just a station and garage.

“I am so proud of the redevelopment commission and our pivot that we took a couple years ago to make this mixed-use private partnership happen,” Nelson Deuitch said. “I think it was important that we didn’t just have a parking garage, but we had a place where people could call home as well.”

Flaherty & Collins Properties is the developer and general contractor for the block. Its CEO, David Flaherty, said the station coupled with residential and commercial uses “bolsters a vision of a high density, transit-orientated development, where top talent seek to live, businesses want to locate.”

Sherri Ziller, president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, called Wednesday’s station opening “the end of a long, very long road for the RDA that began more than a decade ago.”

The RDA helped put the complex local, state and federal funding formula together and serves as the financial agency for both Double Track and the West Lake Corridor projects, meant to bring economic development along both commuter railroad routes.

“And Michigan City, they’ve really been leading the charge,” Ziller said. “They’ve embraced the Double Track project since day one, across multiple administrations, aggressively pursuing development, not just around the train station, but throughout the whole city.”

U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, praised elected officials from both parties for supporting the project, locally, in Indianapolis and in Washington.

“This is an example where in a bipartisan way, we came together,” Mrvan said. In addition to current and past elected officials, Mrvan singled out his predecessor, Pete Visclosky, for “doing what it took for decades to make sure he delivered for this district.”

“Let this be the first of many ribbon cuttings along this corridor,” Mrvan said.