Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Michigan City boasts a long, beautiful beach with a view of the Chicago skyline. The nearby Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore attracts eight million visitors each year. A commuter railroad, the South Shore Line, links the community to downtown Chicago with a dozen trains daily. The City’s engaged community leaders have spent years planning a downtown redevelopment strategy that centers on the arts.
As a result, the Michigan City Area Chamber of Commerce invited Artspace to visit the community. Artspace’s attention soon focused on the transformation of the Warren Building, a six-story office building dating from 1927. The tallest building in the nationally-designated Franklin Street Historic District, it is a seven story building with terrazzo floors, high ceilings and large windows.
Artspace Uptown Artist Lofts is a mixed-use project with 44 affordable live/work units for artists and their families with ground-floor studio and commercial space. It is centrally located within the Uptown Arts District, a six-block stretch of Franklin Street that is already seeing many signs of arts-driven economic renewal.
