Inform, Entertain, Inspire
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

South Bend-Elkhart Regional Development Authority announces local READI grant awards

Captured via YouTube

The South Bend-Elkhart Regional Development Authority has awarded its share of the 2021 state Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI, grants.

The South Bend area was one of seven regions to receive the maximum $50 million in grant money last December. And on Monday, the regional development authority announced how it’s distributing $40 million of that money locally.

Big winners include nearly $12 million for the Beacon Health and Lifestyle District, a proposed redevelopment project that would turn parking lots south of Memorial Hospital in South Bend into apartments, a hotel, fitness center and office and retail space.

The Mishawaka Fieldhouse sports complex got $5 million, South Bend’s Morris Theater expansion got $1.5 million and the Potawatomi Zoo got a little over a million for a black bear habitat.

In Elkhart County, Downtown Elkhart’s River District got $6.5 million and the proposed Ariel Cycleworks apartments in Goshen will get $4.2 million. The Tolson Center is getting $2.6 million, and the Wellfield Botanic Gardens visitor center is getting $1.2 million.

Of the remaining $10 million, $7 million was set aside for future programming awards and $3 million will go towards administrative fees, according to Inside Indiana Business.

The projects receiving READI funding are:

  • Ariel Cycleworks, Elkhart County, $4,200,0000
  • Beacon Integrated Health and Lifestyle District, St. Joseph County, $11,780,000
  • Bremen Sunnyside Park Improvements, Marshall County, $82,965
  • Corson Riverwoods County Park, Elkhart County, $153,035
  • Culver South Main Housing Project, Marshall County, $1,300,000
  • Downtown Elkhart River District, Elkhart County, $6,500,000
  • George Wilson Park, St. Joseph County, $200,000
  • Harrison Street Trail, Marshall County, $144,000
  • Marshall County Career Innovation Center, Marshall County, $1,750,000
  • Mishawaka Fieldhouse, St. Joseph County, $5,000,000
  • Momentum SBE Entrepreneurship Hub, St. Joseph County, $550,000
  • Morris Performing Arts Center “Morris 100 Project”, St. Joseph County, $1,500,000
  • Portage Place Business, Culture and Arts Accelerator/Incubator, St. Joseph County, $550,000
  • Potawatomi Zoo Concession Lodge and Black Bear Habitat, St. Joseph County, $1,070,000
  • Pumpkinvine Nature Trail Completion, Elkhart County, $100,000
  • South Bend International (SBN) Air Cargo and Logistics Center Site Acquisition, Regional, $800,000
  • Tolson Center for Community Excellence, Elkhart County, $2,600,000
  • Water Street Townhomes, Marshall County, $520,000
  • Wellfield Visitor Center, Elkhart County, $1,200,000

Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.

If you appreciate this kind of journalism on your local NPR station, please support it by donating here.

Jakob Lazzaro came to Indiana from Chicago, where he graduated from Northwestern University in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and a double major in History. Before joining WVPE, he wrote NPR's Source of the Week e-mail newsletter, and previously worked for CalMatters, Pittsburgh's 90.5 WESA and North by Northwestern.