The Genesis Convention Center has been closed since 2020, but if you’re of a certain age, you can almost hear the crowds that once gathered there.
Built in 1981, there was plenty to cheer about during the heyday of the futuristic-looking Gary, Indiana, landmark: George Clinton, Public Enemy and Whitney Houston performed there. Prince hit the stage in 1982, bringing with him his girl group Vanity 6 and the baddest band in all the land, The Time.
Indiana resident Paula DeBois saw former President Barack Obama speak there in November 2018, before a packed house of 7,000 Democratic Party voters attending a get-out-the-vote rally.
But by then, the aging Genesis was nearing its end.
“The acoustics were great, and Obama electrified the crowd,” DeBois said. “Several local groups entertained the crowd. The only blemish was the exit. … An escalator malfunctioned making an exit from the building dicey, a concern for me because I had my mother with me that day.”
A second act might be in the offing for the shuttered 44-year-old complex.
The city of Gary says it will issue a request for proposal this fall, in search of a development team who can take over the building and breathe new life into it.
“Reactivating the Genesis Center is a cornerstone of that vision [to revive Gary’s downtown],” Mayor Eddie Melton said in a June news release.
That doesn’t necessarily mean a happy ending for the Genesis, though. The city said it will also entertain proposals to wreck the 6.5-acre site and build something new.
The complex was designed by the late Wendell Campbell, a pioneering Black Chicago architect who studied architecture at IIT under Mies Van Der Rohe and Ludwig Hilberseimer. He also ran his own successful and nationally-recognized firm Wendell Campbell Associates.
Architect Susan Campbell, one of Wendell Campbell’s two daughters, said she hopes the Genesis can be kept and put to new use.
“Every city needs places to convene, whether it’s recreational, civic or business-oriented,” she said. “I think these kind of facilities allow cities to bring in revenue, bring in tourists [and] build off of whatever the event is that’s happening there. And we live in a climate where you have to have an indoor/outdoor spaces. But I’m not saying it has to stay [exactly] the same as it was.”
A proud moment
Built under Mayor Richard Hatcher, the Genesis was planned to reverse the flagging fortunes of Gary’s downtown and the city by bringing in convention and entertainment dollars.
Wendell Campbell designed an 83,000-square-foot building that featured a 24,000-square-foot multipurpose arena that could seat 7,000. He gave the facility a ballroom that could hold 1,200, which is about the capacity of the big ballroom at the Hilton Chicago in South Loop.
He clad the building in light-colored steel — a material that is Gary’s chief export.
The complex had parking on the grounds but was also located near transit.
Susan Campbell said a civil rights hall of fame building was planned and would have been connected to the Genesis via skywalk, but the facility was never built.
“He was very excited — very proud” of the commission, she said. “I remember we had a pretty large model in the office of that site.”
Wendell Campbell died in 2008 at age 81.
For a long while, the Genesis performed as intended. The Chicago Bulls played preseason games there early in Michael Jordan’s career. Rappers Ice Cube, Ludacris and LL Cool J graced the stage, as did gospel superstars Donnie McClurkin and Fred Hammond.
But the Genesis suffered from years of budget shortfalls and deferred maintenance until it was shut down in 2020. One of its last big events was Mayor Hatcher’s funeral in December 2019.
A 2021 deal to sell the convention center to a tech firm for $2.5 million fell apart when the buyers didn’t come up with the payment.
A convention (center) worth keeping
Information used to create the request for proposal, which Gary seeks to issue this fall, was created from reuse ideas the city solicited in a request for interest that hit the streets earlier this summer.
“This RFI invites developers, design firms and community-driven organizations to share concepts that transforms the Genesis Center as a dynamic, multi-use facility that honors its historic legacy while supporting the city’s future economic growth, tourism and community engagement,” the document said.
Coming up with a reuse plan — particularly one that’s convention related — might be tough. Gary and Lake County officials last spring approved building the new and larger Lake County Convention Center and hotel near the Hard Rock Casino, at Burr Street and Interstate 80/94.
But losing the Genesis, given its history, architect and unique design, also would be a hard loss — especially in a city that could use more wins.
