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With new city hall now open, Mishawaka Common Council votes to sell old police station

The Mishawaka Common Council unanimously voted to sell the old police station during its first meeting in the new city hall on Monday, Oct. 3.
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The Mishawaka Common Council unanimously voted to sell the old police station during its first meeting in the new city hall on Monday, Oct. 3.

With the opening of its new city hall, Mishawaka is selling its old downtown police station to Cressy and Everett Commercial Real Estate.

The city purchased the old Liberty Mutual Insurance building at 100 Lincolnway West in 2019 and began renovating it into a new city hall. It officially opened Monday, and consolidates the city administration, utility and police departments under one roof.

And with the new building open, the common council voted unanimously Monday to sell the old police station, which abuts the St. Joseph River a few blocks east, to Cressy and Everett Commercial Real Estate for $500,000.

Ken Prince, the city’s Executive Director of Planning, said they were “very happy” with the offer despite it being below the appraised value because it matches up with the city’s desired plans for the downtown area.

“We solicited proposals for the appraised value of $1.7 million, and we received one offer of $500,000,” Prince said. “We wanted a mixed-use facility on that property, we identified we wanted shared parking as part of that use.”

Broker Chris Fielding said Cressy and Everett Commercial plans to move its headquarters into the building. It will also have a high-end wine bar.

“We have approximately 93 employees now,” Fielding said. “With all of the apartments and multifamily development that’s happening downtown, the one thing that’s been missing — until this facility opened — was a corporate presence downtown that has employees and customers that spend their money from 8 to 5.”

“Our employees are very excited, our board’s very excited — this is a 50 year play for our company,” Fielding added. “We’ll be here for decades.”

In addition to the offices, the old police station will have a high-end wine bar. If you want to see the new city hall, Mishawaka is hosting a formal open house from 4 to 7 p.m. on October 27.

As for the old city hall at 600 E. Third St., The South Bend Tribune reported in July that it may become a new United Way neighborhood center as part of the nonprofit’s plans to bring health care, child care and social services to various areas in the county.

The old Mishawaka Utilities building was sold to Beacon Health, which plans to bring a medical clinic to the city’s downtown.

Cressy and Everett Commercial Real Estate is a financial supporter of WVPE.

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

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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.