The new owners of Coffee Creek Center in

The new owners of Coffee Creek Center in Chesterton, Indiana, have abandoned the development’s nine-year-old new urbanist plan, saying it failed to appeal to homebuyers. “You’re not in an area where urbanism exists,” James Gierczyk, one of the new owners, was quoted as saying Oct. 3 in the Gary Post-Tribune. “You’re in the middle of a greenfield, and I don’t think that that concept really works there.” Gierczyk Inc. and Lake Erie Land Company purchased most of the 648-acre development in June and have decided to produce a more conventional suburban development, including townhouses, detached houses, and a 350,000 sq. ft. shopping center. The Post-Tribune reported that although the original plan called for 2,000 homes, “only an apartment complex of about 80 units, fewer than a dozen single-family homes and a handful of businesses have been built so far.” What the newspaper failed to examine was whether the developers built enough New Urbanism to give the original plan a reasonable chance of succeeding. Ordinarily, a developer has to construct enough buildings and public spaces so that people get a sense of how the buildings will work together to define the open spaces and create a sociable atmosphere. Community is hard to convey to prospective residents if only a scattering of buildings is constructed. A spokesman for the new owners did not reply to New Urban News’s requests for comment.