White Lodging nixes plans for Merrillville development

White Lodging announced plans to pull a proposed $350 million Merrillville development on property once occupied by the Radisson and Star Plaza Theatre on Friday, more than a year after a lack of interest from Lake County to help subsidize it.

The company said last year it was planning the development, dubbed The Farm at Crossroad Commons, at the site off U.S. 30. The proposed 40-acre development would be a “mixed use” project that will combine hotels, event spaces, office space and restaurants.

It would now “entertain a sale” for the property, although it is not currently actively marketed, company spokesman Mike Banas said via email.

The property once hosted several iconic buildings including the Twin Towers, 3,400-seat Star Plaza theater and Radisson Hotel. The hotel was originally a Holiday Inn built by White Lodging founder Dean

White nearly 50 years before it was demolished in 2017.

“The White family doesn’t have any further plans to develop the property,” Banas said. “It is our hope that the site develops into something positive for the NWI community, and we would certainly entertain a sale with someone interested in doing something positive with the property.

“The town of Merrillville was and continues to be a strong supporter of the site and the White family,” he added. “NWI will remain a significant portion of the White family’s philanthropic endeavors, including its recent investment in local Catholic schools.”

White Lodging, the White family and other groups proposed to privately fund 67% of the proposed development’s cost, according to the company, and seek public financing for the remaining 33%.

In November 2018, Deno Yiankes, president and CEO of the Investments and Development Division for White Lodging, met with the Lake County Council to ask it to pass a food and beverage tax to support its proposed 40-acre development. Without a food and beverage tax, Yiankes said White Lodging will still redevelop the property just not with what was currently proposed.

The majority of the Lake County Council had already voiced opposition to a food and beverage tax.

White Lodging said initially the new development could create more than 600 construction jobs, and 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.

In January, the Town of Merrillville examined what they could do to help keep the project, including creating a new Radisson TIF District.

“I’m not going to turn away those jobs. I will do everything in my power to get this done,” Councilman Shawn Pettit, D-6th, said then.

The last building on the property — the Twin Towers office building — was razed in 2018.

Post-Tribune archives contributed.