The shot clock could be winding down on a former Notre Dame women’s basketball star’s efforts to build low-income apartments downtown South Bend.
Devereaux Peters, who went on to play six seasons in the WNBA after graduating in 2011, first came to the city’s redevelopment commission in 2022. To address a lack of affordable housing, Peters pitched a plan to build income-based units on the vacant former Fat Daddy’s block at Monroe and Michigan Streets. The apartments would be called The Monreax, a play on her name.
But three years later, despite Peters winning competitive state tax credits for the project in 2023, the block remains empty. That’s after the commission in May approved the city administration’s request to increase their contribution for the project from $2.3 million to $3.3 million but she’d be required to invest at least $17.7 million, up from $13.7 million. Peters has partly cited rising construction and material costs in the financing delays.
On Thursday the redevelopment commission will consider the administration’s request to modify their agreement with Peters a fifth time. This extension would give her until Nov. 30, rather than the current mid-October, to close on the property with the commission.
The agreement would also update the default language in the agreement, specifying that if she doesn’t have financing for the total project by closing, the commission can take back the property.
