By PAULENE POPARAD

LZK,LLC developer Jeff Katz announced Thursday a lease with its parent company for the former Jewel building on Indian Boundary Road has been terminated, a step in the redevelopment of the big-box shell.

Long a source of frustration for Chesterton town officials, the 36,000-square-foot building has sat empty for years since Jewel built a new store across the street on the north side of Indian Boundary. The lease, entered into prior to Katz buying the old Jewel strip mall in April, 2005 allowed Jewel to renew it preventing reuse of the structure.

Jewel still will control the site to the extent a supermarket or drug store can’t be located there, Katz told the Chesterton Board of Zoning Appeals. Nevertheless, town attorney Charles Lukmann said lease termination is a major step forward.

Katz said in the last two years he’s gutted the Jewel building’s inside and has had talks with a furniture store and other potential occupants. “We have more incentive than anybody else to see the Jewel occupied.” Well-known retailers residents request say Chesterton doesn’t have the population density to support a national chain, explained Katz, but that may change.

Katz was present seeking a public hearing, which was set for Dec. 27, for a variance to remove an existing ban on auto parts sales so an Auto Zone can be built on the north side of the Jewel parking lot east of a Pizza Hut now under construction. Katz said he hopes Auto Zone would negate the perception national chains wouldn’t make it here.

Earlier this year Katz won Chesterton Plan Commission approval to subdivide the two outlots, which was proposed in 2004 but never done; Katz said he’s still bound by the previous owner’s voluntary use restrictions. Member Jeff Trout confirmed the BZA itself did not ban auto parts. He said site redevelopment is on the right track and Auto Zone would create more traffic and more interest in the vacant Jewel, which Katz said he prefers to lease, not sell outright.

BZA member Kim Goldak asked if auto parts were banned, why did Katz negotiate with Auto Zone in the first place? If the BZA doesn’t approve the variance, Auto Zone goes away, said Katz, who described the 6,000-square-foot auto parts store as having a full brick exterior compatible with Pizza Hut rather than the usual painted cinder block.

BZA member Jim Kowalski said Katz will have to prove to him a use variance is warranted and it would be a hardship not to sell auto parts. BZA president Emerson DeLaney said member Fred Owens, although absent, raised the point that if Auto Zone is approved, there would be a bank, auto parts store and a restaurant on both sides of Indian Boundary there. DeLaney called for more diversification.

S. Calumet signs OK’d

BZA members said Thursday they like what Robert Zakhur has done remodeling his 1583/1587 S. Calumet Rd. rental buildings and approved seven sign variances allowing him to promote future tenants.

But a two-sided, 112-square-foot monument sign along Calumet containing eight sign panels won’t be installed until a final location is approved by town department heads, probably next spring.

That’s because the Redevelopment Commission is poised to undertake a major renovation of the South Calumet business district including a road closure at County Road 1100N, street reconfiguration, sidewalks and landscaping amenities. A stakeholder committee is reviewing streetscape options.

Town engineer Mark O’Dell said it’s not known where Zakhur’s driveway will be, let alone the monument sign. Zakhur said he plans to redo the common parking lot, build a handicapped-accessible ramp to the building and install a clock yet this fall.

“It’s a convoluted request but there’s a lot going on there,” said Trout of Zakhur’s proposals in light of the South Calumet renovation. Part of the sign approvals negotiated by Zakhur attorney Greg Babcock was the use of two temporary signs until the monument is installed.

Zakhur has a 460-square-foot billboard in his rear yard facing State Road 49. Babcock said due to miscommunication with his client, replacing the billboard with a new one was not made part of the current petition; a separate one might be submitted in the future.

Including the billboard, allowable signage would increase to 900 square feet from the current 765 square feet. The package includes removing two pole signs along Calumet totalling 205 square feet. Once changed out Zakhur will have seven signs including the 7-foot-tall monument, one more than currently exist with the billboard.

Goldak commended Zakhur for upgrading his property and taking down ratty signs. “I wish more people there would do the same.” She asked whether the billboard was ever permitted and approved. Babcock said it was there when Zakhur bought the property in 2006; the buildings were built in 1978/79.

Zakhur said he’s investing between $75,000 and $100,000 in the renovations. “I love what you’ve done with the place,” said DeLaney. He asked if the town will need to buy some of Zakhur’s property. O’Dell said that won’t be known until final drawings are approved.

No one commented during a public hearing on the petition. Vote to approve was 4-0.

Saikin variances allowed

Only one supporter commented on a separate variance petition brought by Joel and Sheila Saikin of 220 S. 8th Street, who want to build a new front porch and carport on their home. Doing so necessitated reducing a side-yard setback from 8 feet to 6 feet and a second variance to reduce a front-yard setback from 25 feet to 22 feet.

Neighbor Ted Lawnicki of 228 S. 8th Street. endorsed the variances. Vote to approve was also 4-0.

Posted 10/26/2007