Since Mishawaka’s government offices moved downtown last fall, the old city hall building a few blocks east has been vacant.
But that’s about to change as United Way is looking to turn the building into a new neighborhood center that will provide childcare and other services to area residents.
This week the Mishawaka city council gave United Way the property at 600 East Third Street for the nominal fee of $1.
Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood told council members on Monday that the city was being highly selective about who it gave the property to.
The building was Mishawaka’s city hall until last fall and before that, it was Bingham School. Though many organizations expressed interest in the site, the council unanimously approved Wood’s recommendation that United Way of St. Joseph County be the building’s next owner.
“When we went through the process to relocate city hall, we wanted specifically to be hands on in whoever took over our old building,” Wood said. “We are very comfortable and confident in who is taking over the old building and renovating it.”
United Way will now begin the process of converting the old government building into a new community center.
United Way’s vice president of missions advancement Lauren Smyth said she’s had her sights set on the old city hall for a few reasons. It’s a well-kept building, which means renovations are less expensive. It’s also walking distance for a large number of Mishawaka families.
“We would love to use existing properties when it makes sense so the timing worked out really well,” Smyth said. “It’s also important to us that wherever we go we are in a walkable, residential neighborhood. We want this center to be accessed by people in their day-to-day lives.”
Smyth said the full slate of providers for the new center hasn’t been worked out, but as with other United Way projects, childcare and youth programming will be at the forefront. To that end, United Way is partnering with the Boys & Girls Club at the Mishawaka center and renovations will include four early childhood classrooms as well as a new gym.
The nonprofit recently completed construction on a neighborhood center on Dubail Avenue in South Bend and will now establish a footprint in Mishawaka. The newly announced neighborhood center will be the largest United Way project in Mishawaka.
“It’s easy to see how the majority of work and investments we do probably affect South Bend the most in proportion to the other communities,” Smyth said. “While we’ve always had lovely relationships in Mishawaka, I think this is an exciting opportunity to show up in a new way.”
The Mishawaka project is the second of four planned neighborhood centers the group hopes to build in St. Joseph County. Smyth said plans are underway for an additional center in South Bend and potentially a fourth somewhere in a more rural area of the county.
United Way is only paying Mishawaka $1 for the site, but the renovations will likely top $10 million. Smyth said there’s no timetable for construction as the organization is currently working on raising enough funds to start on the renovations.
For Mishawaka, the deal with United Way means the city will not have to pay to demolish the structure which could have cost as much as $500,000.
The resolution passed by the city council will also see a two-story house go up on the corner of Lincoln Way and Laurel. Students with the Mishawaka High School Building Trades program will build the home.
Mishawaka has also sold off some of its other former real estate spaces as the city has consolidated into the new city hall building on Lincoln Way in downtown. The former Mishawaka Police Station was bought by Cressy and Everett and the former Mishawaka Utilities building was purchased byBeacon Health.
