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.

admin note: visit our article on Eddy Street Commons from November 2009 for an update on progress including photos of finished buildings along Eddy Street.

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.

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.

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.

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.

US 31 passes through South Bend along its route from Mackinaw City, Michigan to Spanish Fort, Alabama. And the road is growing, and changing paths in Indiana. If you live near the current 31, or are considering moving near it, you may have questions about the new route, or even have seen surveyors doing preparatory work near your home.

If you would like to see maps of the new US 31, and learn other details, start with the Indiana Department of Transportation’s US 31 Study. If you have more specific questions or don’t find the answers you are looking for, try contacting the Project Facilitator:

Rickie Clark
317-232-6601
rclark@indot.in.gov

I’ve talked a lot about the new condos and other development around Notre Dame. Now it’s your turn:

South Bend Tribune writers Margaret Fosmoe, Heidi Prescott, Jamie Loo and Ed Semmler recently came out with a slew of articles about the Notre Dame condo boom in which they provide a nice overview of the upcoming projects and quote many of the developers:

• ND alumni, fans drive development of condos, townhomes and other housing (permalink)
  
• If you build it, will they come? (permalink)
• Housing bubble hasn’t burst in St. Joe County (permalink)
• Developers’ plan: Reunite boomers with their schools (permalink)
• ND serves as magnet for home builders (permalink)

After writing about condos in South Bend, I’ve heard from the people behind two of the complexes – Lance Cleland of the North Douglas condos and Raj Alairys of the Stadium Club condos. Their projects are ideal for comparison: they are just over one mile apart, and similarly priced. Here they are, in their own words.

Lance Cleland on the North Douglas Condos:

This project will consist of 216 total condos. We will have a clubhouse with an exercise room, club room, kitchen, media center and a swimming pool. We feel our condos are unique because they are located in such a great area on Douglas Rd. between 23 and Grape. This is only a few minutes from Notre Dame and the new hospital not to mention all the businesses along the Grape Rd. corridor. Along with this great location the price range between $133,000 and $141,000 will enable people to buy at a very reasonable price. We do not have any competition as far as brand new condos in this price range. We are currently signing contracts on the condos and they will be ready for occupancy early summer 2007. We have 2 and 3 bedrooms available with split bedroom plans, all have 2 full baths, laundry rooms and dining rooms and great rooms.  Thanks and have a great day!

Raj Alairys on the Stadium Club Condos:

Stadium Club is ready now for condo sales. We’ve recently had two sold before the paint was even dry on the buildings (literally!).

Also, a very positive article was recently floating around the web, where they interviewed a couple of Stadium Club buyers. You can currently view it at this URL:
http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=5850522

The prices are appreciating pretty quickly, too. They are now in the $135K range as of January 2007.

I’ve seen Stadium Club mentioned on sites like the Michiana Real Estate Guide as being built in the 80’s, but they are actually newer than that. They were built in the mid-1990’s.

Thanks

Thank you both Lance and Raj for your comments and welcome to the BendAreaBlog. Those of you reading this who own, want to buy, or are otherwise involved with a South Bend condo, you are invited to take part the online discussion, we’d love to hear what you have to say. Make a comment or e-mail me directly, nick@realst8.com.

Condos and rowhouses are perfect for some people – students who’d rather study than landscape and fans who use them only occasionally. But some families need, and some people just want a standalone house with a yard. If you can look past the excitement surrounding new condo projects around Notre Dame, there are some interesting single family home projects as well.

Notre Dame has been purchasing property since the 1980s and in the last few years has launched its “Notre Dame Avenue Housing Project” through which it sells these lots to full-time employees who promise to sell back to the university when they leave. For more information, read South Bend Tribune article about the project.

The South Bend Heritage Foundation has rehabbed about a dozen homes for sale as affordable housing, generally priced under $70,000 and mostly placed on St. Louis Avenue. These are available to people who will live in the homes and who make less than 80% of the median income.

These programs are laudable, breathing new life into the neighborhood and improving the quality of housing. However they each are geared toward a specific population. If you aren’t a member of these groups, don’t feel left out. There are many other homes in the area and you can rehab one yourself or watch for someone else’s rehab to come on the market.