South Bend is embarking on another development project on the south side of downtown. This time the city’s focus is turning to the southeast corner of the urban core in what it’s calling the Riverfront West district that’s bounded by Monroe and Wayne streets as well as the post office to the west and Karl King Tower to the east.
Currently that area around the post office is a glaringly underutilized office park, which South Bend’s Director of Community Investment Caleb Bauer feels is ripe for repurposing.
“We knew that this area was in flux and an area that we believe is a prime spot for reimagination,” said Bauer.
On Thursday, the city’s redevelopment commission officially purchased three vacant office buildings and a nearby parking lot for $3.25 million.
Demand for office space has dropped dramatically across the country since the COVID-19 pandemic and when Press Ganey moved offices to Innovation Park in recent years, the office park near the river has struggled to find tenants.
The Nemeth Feeney Masters and Campiti law firm has a small office across the parking lot the city now owns and to the immediate north, there’s another office building that currently houses the Portage Township trustee's office. Bauer said those two buildings will stay as they are, though the three vacant buildings the city purchased will likely be demolished soon to make way for a new neighborhood design.
According to Bauer, the vision is to make that block a transitional space from the downtown core of South Bend to the residential Monroe Park area. The lots closer to Wayne Street in the north would ideally be buildings as high as 10 stories with business space on the ground floor. Then closer to the southern edge of the area, Bauer envisions either townhomes or other multi-family housing.
A key piece of the goal is to bring back a street grid between Monroe and Jefferson, which makes the overall project unique from other recent redevelopment the city has undertaken.
“To the public at large, it’s kind of just a dead zone that we really believe can have a lot of vibrancy in the future," Bauer said.
For the city to realize the full scope of the project, it will need to build on land north of the post office, directly behind Trinity Tower. Bauer said the city doesn’t plan to buy those parcels, but is working with Holladay Properties as development moves along.
Paul Phair, vice president of development with Holladay, confirmed the real estate company recently bought that lot. He said the northernmost building along Jefferson has been renovated and will serve as the future home for Crowe consulting, a longtime fixture in the office park.
The southern building of the two, where Crowe currently is, will likely be demolished to make room for a residential development of some sort.
“We support the city’s vision for the area and have had numerous conversations with them and are willing to work with and cooperate with them on the development of infrastructure throughout the area,” Phair told WVPE.
Bauer said the city will send out a request for proposals sometime this summer and likely won’t start significant road work until the city has an idea for what developers propose, so the proposal will be a multi-year process.
Improvements to the city’s river walk are also part of the project and the new neighborhood would connect to Howard Park via a pedestrian bridge across the river.
