MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (WISH) — The mayor of this Northwest Indiana city said the key to restoring the city is to bring investment back to places past administrations have neglected.

Angie Nelson Deuitch, a Democrat, already had four years of service on the city council under her belt when she was elected mayor of Michigan City last year. She was deeply involved with the planning of several new mixed-use developments that she will now oversee in her new role.

In all, Deuitsch said a total of 1,800 new housing units are planned in her city over the next five years, ranging from apartments to single-family homes.

The centerpiece so far is The Franklin, a mix of apartments and retail at the corner of 10th and Franklin streets, where the city’s main train station once stood. The development will overlook one of the South Shore Line’s two stops in town.

“I want to make sure that the families that are here feel supported and that they have the same opportunities any new resident will have,” she said. “As a young person coming out of college, they want amenities. We want to make sure we have amenities for them. But maybe there are people who are here who want better housing.”

Deuitch said accessibility and walkability factor into all of her plans for the city.

One planned mixed-use development will include a grocery store, a move Deuitsch said would eliminate a longtime food desert on the city’s north side. Another will include child care.

She said the goal is to fill the gaps in available services not only for the people who move to Michigan City, but also for people who already live there.

“We know that groceries and healthy food and all those things are important, and so we included it in our (request for proposals). Any type of revitalization is going to require that we make a conscious effort to fill those gaps,” Deuitch said.

A few blocks away from The Franklin lies the former Elston High School, which Deuitch attended. The building now houses an alternative high school, Ivy Tech classes, and the local YMCA.

Deuitch said she wants to turn it into a one-stop shop for skills training, child care, and even food services. She said she wants the facility to serve as a gateway into the skilled trades or into further post-secondary education through Ivy Tech, as well as a way for people to connect with various support services.

Deuitch is one of nine Black mayors currently holding office in Indiana, the most in the state’s history. Asked if the record surprised her, she said it’s an “interesting” record.

“Most of (Indiana’s Black mayors) don’t live in majority African-American cities. So I feel that (voters) looked at the person and the qualifications and what they bring to the table and background,” Deuitch said.

Deuitch said the issue for her is ensuring people are heard.

She said cities such as hers have neighborhoods, often predominantly Black, that historically have not gotten the kind of investment other neighborhoods have received. Deuitch said the real value in electing people of color to positions of power comes in recognizing and reversing those trends.

“For us, the pressure is more about what are we going to do for those areas that have not been invested in over time, which happen to be the areas where most of us, as African-American or Black people, grew up in,” she said.

Deuitch will have a full plate over the next few years.

A groundbreaking for a major mixed-use development next to City Hall is scheduled for June and additional groundbreakings will be scheduled in the near future. In addition, both the Indiana State Prison and the NIPSCO coal-fired power plant in town are scheduled to close by 2028. Deuitch said she is already exploring redevelopment options for both of those sites.