The City of South Bend is about halfway to acquiring targeted properties for an expansion of Ignition Park, one portion of its two-site state-certified technology park, by creating a clear boundary along a neighborhood thoroughfare at its southern edge.
The property acquisitions are part of an effort to expand the technology park, located near downtown in the former Studebaker Corridor, from its original designation of 83 acres to as many as 140 acres. Expanding Ignition Park’s southern edge would create a clear boundary along the north side of Indiana Avenue between Franklin Street and Prairie Avenue.
The South Bend Redevelopment Commission will receive a staff report, Friday morning, from the Department of Community and Economic Development that 69 of 150 properties scheduled for acquisition have been acquired or have signed purchase agreements. The City is in some stage of negotiations with owners of 39 parcels, and has had introductory discussions with many of the owners of another 35 parcels. Seven parcels are railroad-owned.
Through negotiations and acquiring other properties through tax sales, the City has kept total acquisition and relocation costs to $615,545, compared with the $1.375 million budgeted for the parcels.
“This effort will expand Ignition Park by an additional 23 acres and help stabilize the Rum Village neighborhood to the immediate south of the planning area,” said David Relos, economic development specialist for the City of South Bend. Additional acquisitions have taken place on Ignition Park’s eastern boundary between Franklin and Main streets.
Ignition Park, located southeast of Chapin and Sample streets, was designated in 2009 by the State of Indiana as part of a state-certified technology park along with the 12-acre Innovation Park at Notre Dame, which is next to the University campus. Together, they represent the only two-site, state-certified technology park in Indiana as well as the only affiliated with two research institutions: the University of Notre Dame and the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend.
Innovation Park, which opened in 2009, now has eight client tenants.
Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 or David Relos, Economic Development Specialist, 235-9371
