Northwest Indiana Discussion

Naturally, any business is good but it is hard to get too excited about the Family Dollar. But the Times' adoption of the hype here is preposterous. I mean, it aint Goldblatt. Family Dollar is development? Really?
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More downtown development coming with Family Dollar

The Hammond commission approved the proposal for a new Family Dollar store to be built near the Strack & Van Til Supermarket at Hohman Avenue and Sibley Street.
July 10 • Lu Ann Franklin

The success of the Family Dollar store at 6933 Indianapolis Blvd. has convinced the developer that Hammond is a good place to do business.

Nicholas Stratigakes, president and CEO of Atwater Group of Chicago, told the Hammond Redevelopment Commission in May that sales have exceeded expectations, which indicates the need for additional stores.

The commission approved the proposal for a new Family Dollar store to be built near the Strack & Van Til Supermarket at Hohman Avenue and Sibley Street. Technical issues regarding drainage and handicapped accessibility are being resolved.

The building will be all brick to complement the recent improvements to the downtown area, says Phil Tallion, executive director of the Hammond Department of Planning and Development.

“We have put a lot of money into downtown with the Hohman Avenue redevelopment project and creating a new parking lot and event space as well as resurfacing Hohman Avenue and putting in brick-paved walkways,” he says.

“When someone is moving to downtown, we want to make sure the building itself fits with some of the things we just accomplished,” Tallion adds.

This new Family Dollar will be the first built-from-the-ground-up facility in Northwest Indiana and will use the newest protype.

As part of the proposal, Atwater Group would maintain ownership of the store and lease it to Family Dollar for an initial term of 10 years, Stratigakes says.

Construction could begin in July with the store opening later this year if the project receives the necessary permits.

“In many municipalities, there’s always the concern of the property and maintenance of the property and who is the landlord,” he says. “We don’t sell anything we own. We have a vested interest in the project. We will be the landlord."

This "story" ran in the print edition, in one of the largest insert sections I've seen in that paper. Page after page of ads, paid presumably(by whom?), touting Hammond, it's annual Festival of the Take, along with "sponsors". I wonder if these sponsors paid directly for their ads, or if the ads were part of the package of being a Festival of the Take sponsor? All these feel good fluff stories should have a disclaimer that they are part of a paid advertising section. I guess that The Times is ethically lacking is not news. That section and every single story therein is a starting point for any objective journalist to do investigative reporting.

Yeah, i posted this before seeing the Times' section ramping-up for festival of the Lakes.

My thread here is limited to the proposition of equating a Family Dollar outlet/franchise with commercial development, even if technically the case. I mean, it is better than an empty corner. Maybe i'm too much the purist. Still...