South Bend to pay $98,000 to avoid lawsuit against Bare Hands, reclaim site for reuse
SOUTH BEND — The former Gates Service Center building near Four Winds Field will soon be returned to the city and back on the market after Granger-based Bare Hands Brewery reneged on plans to build a new brewpub at the site.
The South Bend Redevelopment Commission on Thursday agreed to pay about $98,000 to cover partial repairs made in the building so the city can reclaim the property at 331 W. Wayne St. The settlement avoids another lawsuit against Bare Hands and puts the vacant building on a path to productive reuse, said Caleb Bauer, executive director of the Department of Community Investment.
The city sold the property to Bare Hands for $1 in 2016 in hopes that a brewpub would open within two years. Seven years of repeated delays and a lawsuit against the brewery followed. Settlement terms reached in that lawsuit in January 2020 were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission voted in September to take back the parcel within 30 days, but a dispute arose in the following months over how much the city owed Bare Hands for repairs. City inspectors assessed the value of work performed in a December tour of the property, according to city zoning specialist Joseph Molnar.
Much of the $98,000 will go to third party contractors who demolished interior walls and improved the building's plumbing and HVAC systems. Bare Hands also shared environmental reports and architectural plans it commissioned for the building.
"Rather than waiting for this property and those commensurate needs to play out, further holding it up from being returned to redevelopment commission ownership," Bauer said Thursday, "we would prefer to make those contractors whole for the work that they performed and be able to move on from this saga."
Once the city reclaims the Wayne Street parcel, it plans to publicly release a request for proposals from private developers interested in the site, Molnar said.
In the coming years, the southwest corner of downtown will see expansion with more than 200 new apartment units from multiple projects. An Indianapolis real estate developer will build three buildings with 150 total units on Lafayette Boulevard just east of the baseball stadium. Former Notre Dame basketball standout Devereaux Peters will lead construction of a 60-unit building nearby at 505 S. Michigan St.
"We know this is an area that should have good redevelopment," Molnar said, "and we think there are entities that have good ideas."
Contact South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Bare Hands Brewery to return building near Four Winds Field
