SOUTH BEND — City officials Thursday approved plans for a residential and commercial district two blocks south of Memorial Hospital, billing it as the largest redevelopment project in downtown South Bend history.
The Madison Lifestyle District will transform two surface parking lots between LaSalle Street and the hospital into approximately 240 new apartments, a 100-room hotel, and more than 40,000 square feet of commercial space for rental. We are aiming for Parking needs will be met by 925 new spaces in the public garage, replacing the current low-value land use that isolates Memorial Hospital on the north end of downtown.
Development costs will be paid for through a combination of public and private funds. Great Lakes Capital, a Granger-based real estate company, has agreed to invest at least $102 million in the 300 and 400 blocks of North Main Street. Memorial Hospital sold the relevant parcel to the developer for $1.
The city of South Bend will spend $24 million in redevelopment bonds approved by the South Bend Common Council to build a public parking garage. The state of Indiana will donate her $11.78 million to the garage through the Regional Economic Accelerated Development Initiative.
The city will set aside 300 parking spaces for Beacon Health System employees and 250 to demolish the nearby South Bend Medical Foundation building on Lafayette Boulevard to create additional parking spaces for hospital staff. He plans to pay $1,000.
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The new district is designed to complement the hospital's ongoing construction of a 10-story patient tower and will cost about $200 million, the Tribune first reported in October 2021. The $32 million project is expected to create approximately 500 new jobs. Construction on the new 300,000-square-foot tower is expected to be completed by summer 2026, and will double the hospital's intensive care unit capacity and expand acute care capacity, according to a Memorial spokesperson. A total of 53 treatment beds will be added.
“We have patients from 22 to 24 counties, and they have family members who come to support them,” Memorial Hospital President Larry Tracy said. “Having a hotel right on our campus, so to speak, within walking distance (for people) and being able to support their loved ones is very healing and therapeutic for the patients we treat. Masu.”
In all, the north side of downtown will attract more than $334 million in private investment and about $36 million in public funding.
On a conservative estimate, the Madison Lifestyle District would pay $2.2 million a year in property taxes, city officials said. Currently, the two blocks are a “sea of parking” that contributes little to the city's coffers, said Caleb Bauer, executive director of the City of South Bend's Office of Community Investment.
“Unfortunately, historic buildings have been demolished, the population has declined, and over time much of downtown has been reduced to surface parking lots,” Bauer said. “We are therefore looking forward to backfilling our city centres.Structured parking is an important part of ensuring we can continue to provide the parking we need, but we We’re doing it in a more efficient way.”
Construction on the Madison Lifestyle District is expected to begin next year, pending approval of a tax abatement plan by the City Council. The entire development of his two blocks on Main Street he won't be completed until 2028, but construction on the north block he said could be completed by the end of 2026.
As part of the agreement, the city will pay $4 million to purchase the Memorial Layton Healthplex, located at 111 W. Jefferson Blvd., from Beacon Health System. Beacon plans to move its physical therapy program from the Healthplex to Memorial Hospital's campus by the end of 2025, and until then it will lease the building from the city.
To expand its public parking portfolio, the city will also purchase the Wayne Street Garage at the intersection of Main and Wayne Streets from Great Lakes Capital for $2.75 million. Bauer said the price is an average of two independent valuations.
Bauer said of the acquisition, “We are committed to ensuring we are watching for exciting growth downtown while also providing the parking needed to support it.”
How a plan to convert two blocks comes together
Interest in the site has increased since Memorial Hospital unveiled plans for a new patient tower two years ago. Tracy said hospital leaders anticipated the need to hire hundreds of new employees and were eager to support hundreds of new housing units right next door.
Audra Sieracki, managing director of Great Lakes Capital, said these apartments will compete with nearby luxury homes, but are workforce housing aimed at people earning 80 to 120 percent of the area median income. He said he would also secure a room for them. Median household income in South Bend has hovered around $49,000, according to 2022 Census Bureau data.
Sieracki said that much density would not be possible without parking. But the building is designed to surround and conceal the garage at the heart of the development, not for show.
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Bauer said the city's first step is to demolish the former South Bend Medical Foundation building this year. He will then begin construction on his 625-space parking garage, which is expected to be completed in 2026, when Memorial plans to open a patient tower. A second 300-space garage is expected to open by the end of his 2027.
Great Lakes Capital aims to complete the north site with 150 apartments, 35,000 square feet of office space and 1,400 square feet of retail space by 2027. The remaining 91 units and 7,000 square feet of retail space are expected to be built on the south site by 2028. .
Principal City Planner Michael DiVita said the two blocks south of Memorial Hospital were primarily residential until the 1950s, when small commercial uses began to prevail. By the 1970s, the northern block was home to the high-rise Town Tower Motel.
The last commercial buildings disappeared around 2010, DiVita said. Since 2015, the site has more or less resembled what it is now. Burger King operates a store on the south side of the property along LaSalle Avenue. The only other building is the former site of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, which also owns Memorial.
“Historically, before the automobile became our primary mode of transportation, downtown cores were much denser,” Bauer said. “Over time, as cars became our primary mode of transportation, we focused on having plenty of inexpensive parking.”
“Cities are now realizing that hollowing out their cores can rob their downtowns of the vibrancy they need, so we're working to fill that missing tooth,” Bauer said. “I'm here,” he added.
Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09
