New restaurants and shops, notable closures, failed projects—here are some highlights of this past year.

The biggest news for our region has to be the implosion of SoLa, a luxury condo/hotel development proposed for the lakefront in Michigan City. If you haven’t been following along, SoLa was a proposed 13-story building with 170 condominiums, almost 250 hotel rooms and 18 townhouses, as well as 22,000 square feet of retail space.

The city recently announced it would not grant more extensions to Chicago’s Far Point Development after five years of working with the company, which has failed to secure financing for the development, despite some pre-sales of at least 30 condos, which started at $400,000. (Note that Farpoint has until Dec. 31 to get that financing.)

“When a project is unable to meet those requirements after extensive effort and multiple extensions, it is our responsibility to acknowledge that reality and move forward,” said Michigan City Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch in a news release. The city is hoping the “You are Beautiful” site will be considered for other redevelopment opportunities.

In related news, the prison in Michigan City will not close, as had been previously announced (turns out Westville’s facility cannot accommodate the inmates), and neither will Nipsco’s power plant, which had planned to go off line in the next few years but now we have a pro-dirty-fuel administration so….

Dozens of pot shops opened on the outskirts of New Buffalo, along 12 and also near the exit off 94, seemingly popping up overnight like, well, weeds. Construction of several more is happening now. Can they all survive? Seems unlikely.

We also welcomed a slew of new restaurants:

•The Cellar Door, a tavern with better-than-tavern food in Michigan City.
•Upscale steakhouse Rocco’s, from the Farina’s folks
•French restaurant The Heron in Michigan City
•Post Boy, an exciting new-American restaurant in New Buffalo
•Al & Ray’s, which brought a mini version of Ray & Al’s to Three Oaks
•Viola’s, which brought Southern cooking for breakfast and lunch to Three Oaks
• In Buchanan, McCullom’s, housed in a new hotel; and Thistledown & Row, from the owners of the brewery/restaurant River St. Joe nearby
•Angela’s Provisions, a breakfast and sandwich shop in New Buffalo
•Tavern on 12, an Italian restaurant from the owner of Tonelli’s, a now-closed favorite in downtown Michigan City
•Patrick’s, a classic steakhouse, reopened in Michigan City
•Hoikkado moved from Franklin Street in the downtown arts district of Michigan City to the former Boathouse space near the outlet mall

New coffee houses, breweries and tasting rooms:
•Fulcra in Sawyer, a friendly little spot with a small but tasty menu of brews
•Two new tasting rooms: Stranger Wine Co. in Buchanan and Driehart in Three Oaks. Both make their own wine, some of which is from their own grapes cultivated in Southwest Michigan.
•Brix, a wine bar, closed in downtown Michigan City and says it’s reopening in a space on Route 12 sometime next year.

Restaurant closings
•William B’s Steakhouse in Michigan City’s Blue Chip Casino has closed for renovations and is slated to reopen in 2026.
•Patellie’s in Three Oaks, whose New York-style pizza has a cult following, will serve its last slices on Dec. 31. The owners, who also have P&E Bottle Shop next door, plan to expand that business and add upscale groceries and prepared foods to takeaway.
•Gather closed in Harbert. A pizza pop-up, Fred’s, was open Fridays and Saturdays in fall but it’s unclear if it’ll continue through the winter.

New shops
•Farmette on the outskirts of New Buffalo has become an instant favorite, with an in-house bakery specializing in sourdough, a coffee shop, and specialty food shop with a well-stocked freezer and refrigerator case, as well as a wine and beer selection and produce and flowers in season (much of it grown on site).
•Abigail Hayden Interiors & Design, a charming shop on Franklin in the arts district of Michigan City
•Yarn Haus, a yarn store-within-a-store in Goods & Heroes in Three Oaks
•The Standard, a gift shop that also makes Italian sub sandwiches, moved from downtown Michigan City to Route 12 across from Burn ‘Em

Have I missed something? Let me know!

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