WNDU reporter Stephanie Stang put together a feature story on new condo construction in South Bend and Mishawaka that aired December 9th and 10th.  Its not a primer on the condo market, but does introduce the topic to a general audience.

The four minute story includes interviews with condo owner Jim Olson, Riverwalk Townhomes’ John Piraccini, Mishawaka mayor Jeff Rea, American Trust Place’s Brad Toothaker and with me.

Development boosters may think the tone too downbeat; people predicting economic calamities will think it too hopeful, but I think  does a fair job introducing a complex issue without making guesses about an uncertain future.

Here is a link to the video:

and for more details on the South Bend condo market, here is a link to the 52 articles about condos on the South Bend Area Real Estate Blog going back to May of 2006.

4 Responses

  1. What is telling is what DIDN’T get built. There were a TON of projects that never broke ground. The reality is that Michiana is atrophying. Not as bad as Detroit but what are the economic drivers going forward? ND is content on being its own little island and that won’t change.

  2. Good lord man. Stop the negativity and travel and realize that this is a national issue. The grass is not greener elsewhere unfortunately. As of the 200o census, South Bend was no 250 on a list of the 273 largest cities in the USA according to Wikipedia. If you merge South Bend, Mishawaka and Granger populations, this town would be around number 70 on the list of the largest cities in the USA! There are pros and cons to every city. If you do not like the town, move or help bring about change.

    1. It’s likely for the best that many announced projects were not built. If there is no demand for them, they aren’t needed. That’s the market working properly, isn’t it?

      This is very much a national issue. But that doesn’t make it less impactful on people building, buying or selling condos here in South Bend. I’ll try to bring in some other areas for comparison in future articles, and some national statistics, but I’m unable to cover areas beyond St. Joseph County with expertise.

      One gauge of a region’s population is using the census bureau defined “metropolitan statistical areas”. These MSAs conflate cities that are intertwined enough to function as single areas. For it, the census bureau would combine South Bend, Mishawaka and smaller towns, but also combine other cities that fit together. On the list of MSAs by population, the South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI MSA is 149th of 366 with about 316,865 souls.

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