A grass-roots vision for LaSalle Square on the city's northwest side received official endorsement as a strategy of the City of South Bend today when the Redevelopment Commission adopted a LaSalle Square redevelopment plan.

Last year, LaSalle Square was incorporated into South Bend's largest development area. Now, following a five-month planning process involving more than 150 residents, the Redevelopment Commission endorsed a 20-year plan with three overarching goals:

1. Increase LaSalle Square's economic vitality through the development of appropriate retail businesses, distinctive housing and higher capacity use of nearby industrial areas.
2. Build on LaSalle Square's strong community base by enhancing existing community functions, introducing new recreational activities and incorporating educational programs.
3. Increase interior and external connectivity by introducing streets, sidewalks and trails within the site; by establishing bus service more closely geared to local needs; and by including significant streetscaping and signage within and immediately adjacent to the site.

"These goals are realistic and achievable, and the City backs this plan with $2 million in seed money for public infrastructure and to match substantial outside private investment," said South Bend Mayor Stephen J. Luecke. "At a time when our national economy is suffering and local government itself is threatened by declining revenue, we must continue to make strategic investments to improve economic conditions and raise property values in the inner city."

Located at Bendix Drive and Ardmore Trail, just south of Lincolnway West, LaSalle Square is a 31-acre site that once had hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail occupied by Target, Kroger and other stores. The shopping center began to lose business as employment fell in nearby industrial areas, traffic declined and new retail centers opened in other parts of South Bend. Yet more than 5,000 people work within one mile of LaSalle Square and, consultants said, that adds to the neighborhood's market potential.

While LaSalle Square's full development is projected to take place over two decades, the 125-page plan outlines immediate steps in five-, 10- and 20-year stages.

"A lot can change in 20 years," concluded the report by two Chicago-based consultants, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and zpd+a, an architectural firm. "By working closely with the current property owners and future developers, investing in infrastructure, and providing for the community's desires, the City of South Bend working in conjunction with the community can shape this area into a thriving neighborhood with amenities that services its occupants."

The plan's immediate recommendations (for implementation in five years) include:

• Creating a streetscape that turns the Bendix-Lincolnway intersection into a gateway to LaSalle Square.
• Extending the street grid from the surrounding neighborhood into LaSalle Square, reducing massive surface-lot parking and providing better connection to residents.
• Developing senior housing and the first phase of convenience retail options in the northeast portion of LaSalle Square.
• Acquiring land along the southern portion of LaSalle Square (south of Prast Boulevard) to develop a linear park with a bicycle path.
• Creating a recreational park in the southwest corner of LaSalle Square with facilities that could include a playground, band shell or small sporting venue.
• Starting and promoting, with business sponsorship, programs and initiatives at LaSalle Square, including community gardening and farming, a farmer's market and movies in the park.

Within 10 years, the consultants anticipate that LaSalle Square's usage and value will increase, allowing for:

• More intensive use of nearby industrial areas.
• Completion of 20,000 to 40,000 square feet of retail development along Bendix.
• Creation of a public plaza (a "LaSalle Square") in the center of the site that could house community programs.
• Encouragement of private development of new housing around the plaza.

"Over 20 years the housing and retail development in LaSalle Square should expand in scale and variation, becoming a genuine center for the community. A community center with space for senior and youth activities should be incorporated into the central plaza," the report said. "At any time during the 20-year development, the satellite campus of a community college or trade school desired by community residents could be developed in or near the site as a project that would complement all other planned development."

LaSalle Square is one of several areas where the City of South Bend has pursued targeted redevelopment beginning with the adoption of strategic plans built on broad-based community input. Similar efforts have taken shape or are under way in the Northeast Neighborhood, Downtown, the East Bank Village and the Coveleski ballpark district. Many of these focused development strategies have grown out of the groundwork laid in 2005-2006 by thousands of residents in the formation of City Plan, South Bend's 20-year comprehensive plan.

"City officials, developers and planning professionals don't have a monopoly on good ideas," Luecke said. "We believe interactive planning represents the best way to shape good public policy and foster strong private development for LaSalle Square's future."

LaSalle Square planning is funded by tax increment financing (TIF) revenue from the west-side Airport Economic Development Area, the city's largest.

In a TIF district, the increase in tax revenue generated by new development stays within the boundaries of the district to fund infrastructure improvements, including curbs, sidewalks, streets, landscaping and other public improvements. These resources are available for economic development but not for general city services – a point often misunderstood as the City faces the loss of $21.3 million in annual revenue from the property tax caps advocated by Gov. Mitch Daniels and adopted by the legislature.

"If the City chose not to make these investments in LaSalle Square, we wouldn't save a single police officer or firefighter, or prevent the closure of a single park facility or recreation program," Luecke said. "By state law, these dollars can only be used for economic development in the same way that individuals cannot use a health insurance plan to pay for rising gas and food prices."

Already, some initiatives are moving forward. Developers interested in a three-story, 60-unit senior housing development have approached the City. Demolition is proceeding on a former car wash property acquired by the City. And, this summer, the Redevelopment Commission approved a development agreement between the City of South Bend, Memorial Hospital and Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center to renovate a vacant medical office building across from LaSalle Square to create a west-side family practice facility.

In early 2009, Memorial Hospital and Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center will launch Bendix Family Physicians, a fully staffed physicians' office at 1010 N. Bendix Drive, under the auspices of the non-profit Community Health Partners of South Bend. The hospitals and private foundations will support Community Health Partners.

Renovation of the medical office building will take place in 2008. The facility is expected to open in 2009. Community Health Partners will invest nearly $1.2 million to furnish and equip the facility as a full-service medical practice and a venue for community health information and programming, and underwrite ongoing operational costs.

The full report can be viewed at www.SouthBendIN.gov/LaSalleSquare

Contact:  Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 or Jeff Vitton, Community Development Planner, 235-9660