St. Joseph County Commissioners have taken the first steps to redevelop land that includes the former Portage Manor site.
When commissioners moved last summer to close the Portage Manor county home, some critics predicted they would move fast to have the land redeveloped after the closure. Commissioners said potential redevelopment had nothing to do with their decision. Rather, they said the home needed to close because county homes have become an outdated mode of care for the poor and disabled.
But after voting for the closure in March 2023, the county in May asked engineering and surveying firm Danch Harner & Associates to start surveying the land and planning to split it up for redevelopment.
Commissioners were to discuss that work at Tuesday night’s meeting. They’re calling the 181 acres the Riverside Campus Project Area.
In August a Grand Rapids-based apartment developer told The South Bend Tribune it was interested in the land.
The surveying work has identified Portage Manor’s more than 1,200 cemetery plots, which will be maintained by the Portage Township trustee.
The 117-year-old building’s fate remains uncertain.
Commissioners Carl Baxmeyer and Derek Dieter did not return WVPE’s interview requests.
While the land is owned by the county, it sits within city limits, so the city will have to approve any projects. A spokeswoman for the city administration declined our interview request
