by Nick Molnar on September 24, 2007
The number of home sold in the South Bend Area is down about 8% from last year but there are housing sectors seeing lots of activity. One is building by universities and colleges. Here are recent photos of the construction at three of the South Bend Area’s largest schools.
Notre Dame has $300 to 400 million dollars of on-campus growth planned in addition to off-campus developments along Eddy Street and Notre Dame Avenue.
Indiana University South Bend is building housing for 400 students south of the River.
Bethel College has had nine building projects since 1992 and is currently working along Logan Street.
by Nick Molnar on June 18, 2007
Note Dame is pushing the redevelopment of the city south of its campus. It has sponsored the building of new homes on Notre Dame Avenue, and is redesigning its streets to better interact with a coming college town shopping area. This proposed retail / residential strip, dubbed Eddy Street Commons for the street it surrounds, was featured in the South Bend Tribune today.
Market maven Heidi Prescott and Margaret Fosmoe, reporter behind the Tribune’s in depth series about condos near Notre Dame, lay out details of the proposal: essentially two hotels, one garage, lots of shops, and almost five hundred apartments, condos and townhouses.
It’s an exciting project that would create a smaller, newer alternative to the Grape Road - Main Street shopping and dining corridor. It could reinvigorate the neighborhood and help propel the city’s smart growth. But don’t start planning your move just yet. The project is in its early stages and will require the coordination of several large, slow moving groups: the University, a development company out of Indianapolis, the Indiana Department of Transportation (to reconfigure SR 23 / South Bend Avenue) and the city of South Bend.
If you want to live in a condo near Notre Dame but don’t want to wait, try Oak Hill (current listing) or the North Douglas Condos, or visit the South Bend Condo Guide to get the scoop on almost every condo in South Bend.
If you want a chance to get your thoughts about this development on the record, the required rezoning request is open to a public hearing Tuesday, June 19th at 3:30 in the county-city building.
If you just want to chime in on what shops you’d like to see come to the area, visit Heidi Prescott’s Market Basket Blog.
by Nick Molnar on May 12, 2007
Sue Lowe of The South Bend Tribune reports the Mishawaka city council voted not to award a tax abatement to the 19 townhouse development “Ironworks, LLC - Townes at Kamm Island Park,” south of the river near downtown Mishawaka. They have not yet voted on the abatement request for a strikingly similar development, the 20 townhouse development “Riverwalk Townhomes, LLC” north of the river.
The transcript from the May 10th city council meeting is not yet online, but you can find extensive details about both projects in the transcript of the April 16th meeting, where each project petitioned for, and was granted status as an economic revitalization area with a residentially distressed area designation.
by Nick Molnar on May 2, 2007
The University of Notre Dame is planning significant changes. They include more Gothic buildings, fewer cars on campus, and a number of new and expanded buildings. Click here for a copy of the university’s master plan, or you can read Margaret Fosmoe’s much shorter but still detailed summary of the plan in the South Bend Tribune.
by Nick Molnar on April 17, 2007
It was a big day for Mishawaka when the abandoned Uniroyal buildings came down on June 17th 2000. Now, nearly seven years later, the site is seeing the start of some long anticipated residential growth. Developers Chuck Trippel of Riverwalk Townhomes, LLC and Bob Stephens of IronWorks, LLC are seeking five year tax abatements for their already underway riverfront projects.
The roughly 30% tax abatement would cost the city, and benefit the buyers of the $260,000+ condos about $190,000. You can find more details about the proposal in the South Bend Tribune (permalink).
If you have an opinion on the proposed abatement post a comment below, or better yet voice it at the May 10th meeting of the Mishawaka Common Council.
