Notre Dame has announced that perhaps one of the more recognizable buildings in South Bend will be torn down next week. The brightly painted original site of the Robinson Community Learning Center on Eddy Street is set for demolition Oct. 6.
(You can read more below from portions of Notre Dame's press release.)
Demolition of the former Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC) building will begin Tuesday (Oct. 6), paving the way for additional development of the Eddy Street Commons area south of the University of Notre Dame.
The work includes the former RCLC building plus the attached former Notre Dame Surplus Property/QuarkNet building. It also includes two adjacent buildings: the former Approved Safety and Security and the former Corby Fabric Care Center, side-by-side on Corby Boulevard.
“It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to the old Robinson Community Learning Center, the backdrop to so many wonderful moments and the basis of so many important relationships these past two decades,” said Jennifer Knapp Beudert, manager of the RCLC. “At the same time, we look forward to further development of the area, and to a bright future for the new RCLC.”
An off-campus educational initiative of Notre Dame, the RCLC opened in a portion of the former Aldi/Goodwill space at Howard and Eddy streets in 2001. It recently relocated to a new and expanded building across the street.
In its original location, the RCLC served a combined 22,650 children, adults and seniors with programs including language, literacy and youth entrepreneurship classes; after-school tutoring; clubs and events for seniors; Lego robotics; the Robinson Shakespeare Company; and Take Ten, a conflict resolution program for area youth.
Not including staff, about 28,000 people, including 4,750 volunteers and 250 AmeriCorps members, have been involved with the RCLC since it opened, equal to about one quarter of the total population of South Bend.
Plans for the old RCLC and surrounding properties have not been finalized, but include a mix of housing and commercial uses.
