City leaders to hire a design firm and hold public meetings to plan for downtown's growth

SOUTH BEND — Sixty years after Studebaker ended auto production in South Bend, a seminal moment in the city's struggles since the 1960s, municipal leaders are asking how downtown can lead a rebound in private investment and population growth.

South Bend Mayor James Mueller on Tuesday announced plans to hire urban design experts and to hold public meetings early next year to envision downtown's future. Saying he expects $1 billion in private investment downtown over the coming years, Mueller said the planning process aims to harness that energy to meet residents' housing and commercial needs.

The city will hire Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates later this year to lead the project. The public engagement sessions will begin in January or February, with exact dates to be announced soon, according to Caleb Bauer, South Bend's executive director of community investment.

Bauer said some target areas are the 100 block of South Michigan Street around the defunct State Theater, Niles Avenue near the former Madison Center building and empty lots south of Monroe Street. City planners are figuring out how downtown's many underused buildings and sprawling parking lots can be repurposed into housing, retail or office space.

“We don’t want to see buildings like (the State Theater) decay to the point that they’re unsalvageable," Bauer said. "Some of the buildings on that block are, unfortunately, heading in that direction."

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Bauer said attracting more residents to live downtown is at the core of the strategy to boost nightlife and everyday commerce.

A February 2021 study by Zimmerman Volk Associates, a New Jersey real estate consulting firm, projected that for each of the next five years, about 8,000 households would be potential buyers in South Bend's residential market. The study found that about half of the target households would be moving to South Bend from outside city limits.

Of that annual total, an average of 3,190 fall into downtown's residential market. About 45% of these households — a predicted blend of younger singles, childless couples, small families, empty-nesters and retirees — are likely to rent rather than own their residences, according to the study.

"The big question that a lot of downtowns are asking is: Well, if office isn’t our primary driving use of space, what is it?" Bauer said. "And we think we’re ahead of the curve in already driving residential growth in the area.”

More than 500 new units are already in development downtown, according to city data. Examples include 90 apartments to come in Liberty Tower's top floors, more than 120 units to go up across from the South Bend Cubs stadium and 66 to be built by former Notre Dame basketball standout Devereaux Peters at the corner of Monroe and Michigan streets. On downtown's north end, Beacon Health System is proposing to build 145 apartments in addition to its new 10-story patient tower.

The city gathered business leaders at a Tuesday press conference to bolster their point.

The owner of the South Bend Cubs, Andrew Berlin, said more than 3 million fans have attended games at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium since he bought the local franchise in 2011. He highlighted new legislation that could funnel up to $100 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years into the city-owned ballpark and other special event venues, such as Century Center. Renovations are underway to expand the stadium's seating capacity beyond 10,000 fans.

Willow Wetherall, executive director of the local development nonprofit Downtown South Bend, said about 30 new small businesses have opened near downtown in the last two years. The organization's First Fridays events now garner 10 times as many vendors looking to sell their wares. This year's Art Beat broke records with more 20,000 attendees.

“Attendance isn’t theoretical," Wetherall said. "People vote with their feet, and they are voting loud and clear in record numbers for downtown.”

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend leaders are planning the future of downtown