Centennial Village
The mixed-use district itself: retail, dining, medical and office space, and condominium residences.
Centennial Village · Munster, IN
Munster's mixed-use center at Ridge Road and Calumet Avenue
Centennial Village is the walkable center the town built for itself — a planned unit development at Ridge Road and Calumet Avenue with shops, restaurants, medical and office space, and residential condominiums above. It is also the one part of Munster with its own adopted design standards, so anything visible from the street is a design-review question before it is a permit question.
History & architecture
How Centennial Village was built
Centennial Village was created as a public-private partnership between the Town of Munster and CVP Partners at the intersection of Calumet Avenue and Ridge Road, the town's two main corridors.
It was approved as a planned unit development rather than under the standard zoning district tables, with a dedicated design standards document adopted as a supplement to Chapter 26 of the Land Development Code.
The design standards govern permitted uses, building setbacks and height, architectural materials, building design elements, and vehicular circulation — an unusually detailed level of control for Munster.
The program is deliberately mixed: ground-floor retail and restaurants, medical and professional offices, and luxury residential condominiums in the same district.
The project's financing history was complicated enough to produce a reported Indiana Court of Appeals decision over a property transfer tied to the redevelopment, a reminder that PUD parcels carry paper history worth reading.
Its intent — a town center with a real street life — reflects the same thinking behind Munster's 2019 shift to a character-based zoning code.
- Typical era
- 2000s–present
- Lot sizes
- PUD parcels — no conventional lot standard applies
- Common types
- Condominium residences above ground-floor commercial, plus office and medical space
- Design review
- Yes — Centennial Village PUD design standards, plus town permits
Landmarks & shared spaces
Places that anchor Centennial Village
Ridge Road and Calumet Avenue
Munster's principal east-west and north-south corridors, crossing at the district.
Munster Town Hall
1005 Ridge Road — Community Development, Plan Commission, and BZA all meet here.
Centennial Park
The town's largest park, on Calumet Avenue just south of 45th Street, with gardens, a stage, trails, and a three-acre dog park.
Businesses & districts
Where Centennial Village gathers
Centennial Village retail and dining
The district's ground-floor tenants — restaurants, shops, and services.
Medical and professional offices
A meaningful share of the district's square footage.
Calumet Avenue corridor
The wider commercial spine running north-south through town.
Ridge Road corridor
Everyday retail and services along Munster's main street.
Zoning & overlays
Common zoning codes in Centennial Village
These are the base districts and overlays we see most often on Centennial Village lots. Always confirm your parcel's district and overlays on the Metro zoning map before design decisions get expensive.
SD-PUDSpecial District — Planned Unit Development
A project-specific ordinance that replaces the base district standards. Setbacks, height, materials, and review all come from the approved PUD and its design standards.
CD-4.AGeneral Urban — A
A more urban character district used along Munster's mixed-use corridors, with tighter building placement and frontage requirements than the CD-3 neighborhood districts.
CD-3Neighborhood character district
Munster's general neighborhood district under the Character-Based Code adopted in December 2019 (Ordinance 1788). Form — lot width, building placement, and frontage type — drives the standards rather than a conventional use-based table.
Overlays that apply here
PUD-DS
Centennial Village design standards
An adopted supplement to Chapter 26 covering uses, setbacks and height, materials, building design elements, and circulation within the district.
SPR
Site Plan Review Committee
Development plans for anything other than a single-family detached home or a parking lot go through the Town's Site Plan Review Committee.
Permitting path
- 1Planned Unit Development parcels are governed by the PUD ordinance and its adopted design standards, which supplement Chapter 26 rather than defer to it. Centennial Village, for example, has its own design standards document covering uses, building placement, materials, and design elements.
- 2Pull the approved PUD ordinance and any amendments from the Town before design. The base character district tables will not tell you what is allowed on a PUD parcel.
- 3PUD design standards typically govern exterior materials and facade composition, so material selection is a review issue and not just a budget one.
- 4Development plans for anything other than a single-family detached home or a parking lot also go through the Town's Site Plan Review Committee.
- 5Permits are still issued by Community Development at 1005 Ridge Road after the PUD compliance question is settled.
- 6Where the PUD standards cannot be met, the path is a PUD amendment through the Plan Commission rather than a routine BZA variance — a longer schedule worth knowing at the start.
Why it matters
Centennial Village's place in Munster
It is Munster's town center — the closest thing the community has to a downtown, and the reference point for how the town wants new development to look.
It concentrates retail, dining, medical services, and housing in one walkable district instead of spreading them along the corridor.
Its design standards were a deliberate template: the town's later move to a character-based code aimed to get that quality of outcome without needing a PUD for every project.
Events & festivals
What happens in Centennial Village
Munster Music Festival
Summer
Town-run outdoor music at nearby Centennial Park.
Region Eats food truck festival
Summer
A Munster Parks & Recreation event at Centennial Park.
Decades Fest
Summer
Free Munster Parks music festival spanning several musical eras.
Designing here
What this means for your Centennial Village project
- On a PUD parcel the design standards are the code. Read them before sketching, because materials and facade composition are prescribed, not suggested.
- Condominium interiors are the common residential scope here, and the association's rules on structure, plumbing risers, and mechanical routing usually matter more than zoning does.
- Anything that changes an exterior element — glazing, balcony enclosure, storefront — is a design standards question first and a permit question second.
- Mixed-use buildings put commercial code on residential work: fire separation, egress, and accessibility drive the drawings on any conversion or combination of units.
- If the standards cannot be met, the path is a PUD amendment through the Plan Commission, not a quick BZA variance. Find that out early.
- For homeowners nearby, the district is the best local argument for what Munster's reviewers consider good frontage — worth borrowing from on street-facing additions.
FAQ
Questions about Centennial Village
Keep exploring
Other Munster neighborhoods
Sources
- Town of Munster Community Development
- Munster Chapter 26 Character-Based Zoning Code (PDF)
- Munster Plan Commission
- Munster Board of Zoning Appeals
- Munster residential permit application (PDF)
- Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission — Munster levee inspection
- Centennial Village PUD design standards (PDF)
- Centennial Village (developer site)
- Town of Munster — Centennial Village overview
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