A building that for decades offered everything from exercise to child care for countless kids, adults and families in South Bend, will soon come down.
For more than 50 years, the YMCA on Northside Boulevard was a vibrant place. People came daily to swim, work out, and to play everything from basketball to racquetball. Today this once vital part of the community, vacant since 2020, is an eyesore and public safety risk, attracting only vandals and squatters.
But the city administration sees a bright future for the property, with its seven acres overlooking the St. Joseph River. On Thursday the city’s redevelopment commission approved a request to spend up to $1.25 million to demolish the building, including identifying and safely removing any asbestos.
The city plans to have the building down by the end of the year, with the site graded for redevelopment by the spring. In the coming months the city will request proposals from interested developers.
Under a deal the city and YMCA of Greater Michiana reached in April, the Y moved into the city’s Leighton Healthplex building downtown, in exchange for the city receiving ownership of the Northside Boulevard property.
