The Genesis Center Is Coming Down. Gary Is Collecting Its Memories Before It's Gone.

McDonagh Demolition is taking down the Genesis Convention Center, and two local groups are asking for your photos before it's gone. The Gary Historical & Cultural Society and the Gary Arts Council are collecting photos, videos, flyers and memories of the building for a community exhibit. The demolition moves on a schedule measured in weeks. The city has promised a plaza on the site that will "permanently commemorate" Genesis, but that plaza has no construction date. Until it does, the building's history will mostly be whatever residents bring in this fall: ticket stubs, graduation pictures, pageant programs.

What the crews are doing this month

On Oct. 13, the City of Gary announced four downtown teardowns in a coordinated plan with the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. Genesis comes first. NWI Times photo captions described the work as well underway by Oct. 22, and on Oct. 31 the court scoreboard was still standing inside. By Nov. 2, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that crews were "ripping down" the 45-year-old building.

Here's the schedule the city published for all four sites:

The NWI Times reports that the RDA is spending $2.87 million to raze Genesis and Gordon's together. The city also says the City Church historical marker at City Methodist will be preserved and moved.

Forty years in one room

The Sun-Times traces the idea back to Mayor Richard Hatcher, who first talked publicly about Gary needing a convention center in 1973. Chicago architect Wendell Campbell designed a building of curves and jutting shapes, clad in steel, Gary's signature product. The 83,000-square-foot building had a 24,000-square-foot arena with 7,000 seats and a ballroom that held 1,200. Here's what happened in that room:

1. 1981: The Genesis Center opens downtown.
2. 1982: Prince plays a show with his protégés The Time and Vanity 6. Peabo Bryson performs the same year, with tickets at $12.50.
3. 1980s: A young Michael Jordan plays Bulls preseason games in the arena.
4. Over the years: Public Enemy, Whitney Houston, George Clinton and the Whispers take the stage. The building also hosts Gary Steelheads basketball, wrestling, graduations, civic gatherings and funerals.
5. 2001 and 2002: Genesis hosts the Miss USA pageant two years running.
6. November 2018: Former President Barack Obama speaks to 7,000 voters at a get-out-the-vote rally.
7. December 2019: Hatcher's funeral, one of the last major events held in the building he championed.
8. 2020: The center closes.

Most of the history the Sun-Times and NWI Times can tell is about headliners. The smaller events, like graduations, ballroom banquets and Steelheads nights, are mostly remembered by the families who were there. Those are the memories the exhibit is looking for.

Where your photos go

The NWI Times reports that the two groups put out the call as demolition began. Society president McKenya Dilworth Smith described the request this way:

"Demolition has already begun. Before this building disappears completely, we're asking the community to share photos, flyers, and memories from everything that happened there over the years."

There are two ways to share, according to the NWI Times article:

• Printed photos: Drop them off at J's Breakfast Club, 2601 Broadway.
• Digital photos and videos: Use the online submission form linked from the NWI Times article.

Dilworth Smith told the paper that every submission becomes part of a community exhibition later this year, "keeping The Genesis Center's legacy alive for the next generation." If you have an envelope of 1980s concert photos or a Miss USA program in a closet, now is the time to dig it out, while the exhibit is still being put together.

Not everyone feels the same way about the demolition. Gary artist and curator Lauren Pacheco, who works with residents on preserving the city's historic architecture, told the Sun-Times she has "complicated feelings" about it. "Gary has spent decades being defined by what it's lost," she said. "I'd love to see us shift that narrative toward what we have, what we've contributed and what we can imagine next."

The demolition has dates and the plaza does not

The city explains its decision in numbers. State fiscal reviews found that Genesis recovered only 33 cents for every dollar spent and lost $8 million in operations over five years. Powers & Sons Construction estimated more than $10 million just to repair and stabilize a building that scrappers had stripped of its electrical and mechanical systems. "We honor our history, and the generations of memories made here, but real revitalization requires courage and decisive action," Mayor Eddie Melton said in the city's release.

Here's the city's plan for the cleared block, developed with the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture:

• A public safety headquarters.
• 150 apartments centered at 5th and Broadway, with ground-floor retail, a small neighborhood grocery and restaurants, plus 90 more units at 504 Broadway.
• An upgraded Gary Metro Center linking regional buses with the South Shore Line.
• A central civic plaza connecting the Lake County Courthouse at 400 Broadway with the Hudson-Campbell Sport & Fitness Center, "permanently commemorating the cultural history of the Genesis site."

The demolition has dates down to the week. The plaza, the safety building and the housing don't have construction dates yet. So between now and whenever that plaza opens, the photos at J's Breakfast Club and in the online form are the main public record of what happened at Genesis. Anything that doesn't make it into the exhibit stays in family albums.

Getting around the block this winter

The city's Oct. 1 traffic alert set up the first round of changes. Washington Street closed between 5th Avenue and Broadway, Genesis Center Plaza closed between Washington and W. 4th Avenue, and Adams Street shifted traffic between 5th and 4th Avenue. The public lot at the northwest corner of Broadway and 5th also closed. As of the Oct. 13 update, closures and traffic shifts were still in place on Washington Street, Adams Street and nearby alleys. The city said full access would stay open for GEO Academy on Washington Street, Genesis Towers on the Gary Housing Authority campus, and the Gary Police Department. Crews are spraying water continuously to keep dust down, under Indiana Department of Environmental Management oversight. More traffic controls are coming near City Methodist and St. Mary's as heavy equipment arrives, so check the city's news page before you drive downtown.

Hudson-Campbell, the building the plaza would connect to, is still in use. The city's facility page lists hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends. For membership information, call 219-886-2814. The center has its own $5 million renovation coming. Calumet Current reports that Melton wants to turn it into a sports and health hub while keeping it open to the public.

A few blocks away, RailCats Stadium at 1 Stadium Plaza has two events on the city's 2026 calendar. A Thanksgiving Meal Giveaway is listed for Friday, Nov. 20, at 11 a.m., and Holiday Fest for Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 4 p.m. If you're dropping off photos on Broadway or watching the demolition from the fence line, you'll be just a few blocks from both.

Favela Homes is a Lake County team, and we're following what happens on these downtown blocks as closely as you are. If you own a house in Gary and have questions about it, our bilingual team will go over your options with you in English or Spanish, at your own pace. Get a Cash Offer Now.