Hammond officials approve multiple property purchases, development deal with firefighters and social-service amendment

Hammond City elected officials approved a package of real-estate purchases, a development agreement with the local firefighters’ association, an amendment to a social-service contract and other routine business at their July 15 meeting in city chambers.

Taylor, a staff member who briefed the commission, said "signed purchase agreements from the Memorial Park parcels have started to come into our office for your review and approval," and outlined the developers’ timeline, noting builders will have 12 months to submit preliminary site plans and six months after that to begin construction. The commission voted to accept purchase agreements for several Memorial Park addition lots identified on the agenda, with the motion passing on a 5-0 roll call.

The commission also approved a $10,000 homebound conditional forgivable loan for applicant Mary Bell Zavala, identified on the agenda as purchasing 4337 Stateline Avenue. Commissioner Myrick moved to approve the loan and Commissioner Tomage seconded; the roll call recorded five yes votes and the motion passed.

Officials approved Amendment No. 2 to the agreement with Meals on Wheels of Northwest Indiana, which extends the agreement to Aug. 31 to allow the nonprofit additional time to spend down allocated funds. The motion to approve the amendment was made by Commissioner Shelton and seconded by Commissioner Kubacki; the amendment carried on a unanimous roll call.

The commission approved a sale of a 25-foot lot at 4847 Oak Avenue to an abutting landowner for $3,500 and approved an amendment to a prior purchase agreement at Clark Field (Lot 102210 Stanton Avenue), changing the buyer name from Regent Redevelopment LLC to Robert J. Carlson. Both votes were unanimous.

In a pair of related actions, the commission approved a development agreement and a purchase agreement allowing the Hammond Professional Firefighters Association Local 556 to buy 435 Fayette Street for $200,000. Under terms described by staff, $150,000 of the purchase price would be financed through a forgivable promissory note tied to operating the property as a multipurpose community and event venue. The agreements require construction to begin within 90 days of execution and to be completed within two years; both motions passed on 5-0 votes.

The commission authorized the city to pursue a quiet-title action on 740–742 State Street to clear an outstanding tax deed and enable replatting and right-of-way dedication. Attorney Westland explained that quiet-title proceedings were the quickest route to clear the title issue so the city could move forward with replatting; the authorization passed unanimously.

On procurement and redevelopment, staff reported multiple responses to RFPs. For the RiverNorth commercial redevelopment at the 600–6261 77th Street site, two timely proposals were cited (a $1.9 million bid from Nash Patel and John Tampa and an offer from Daniel Castellanos seeking to buy 1–3 acres at a per‑acre price discussed in the meeting), plus one submission from Lucky Energy Inc. that arrived after the 4:00 p.m. deadline. Attorney Westland recommended opening and documenting the submissions and referring them to staff for detailed review and recommendation; the commission voted 5-0 to refer all submissions to staff.

Staff also reported three timely proposals and one late submission for the Hammond Gateway mixed-use transit-oriented development RFP. Westland said the commission could waive minor deficiencies if staff recommended it and again asked the commission to refer the packages to staff for review; the commission referred the submissions to staff by unanimous vote.

Other business included approval of the register of claims dated 06/22/2026 through 07/15/2026 (claims R68905–R69045) and authorization of an $8,477 contract with Bud Mechanical Systems to replace an AC unit at 5209 Homan Avenue to maintain IT equipment climate control; both actions passed on roll-call votes.

Public comment was opened and then closed with no speakers recorded. A motion to adjourn followed and the meeting concluded.

Votes at a glance: the record shows the motions listed above passed on roll-call votes recorded as five yes votes; individual roll-call entries in the transcript read (e.g., "Tomage? Yes," "Kubacki? Yes," "Mosley Shelton? Yes," "Myricks? Yes," "Oprich/Popridge? Yes").