No. 1154 modifying/confirming Resolution No. 1151 designating the SEDA, delaring the SEDA to be blighted, approving a dev. plan/conditions under which relocation payments will be made, establishing an allocation area for purposes of TIF

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to the massive loss of population. Each neighborhood has pockets of commercial and industrial land uses; and each neighborhood has been impacted negatively by the decline of the city's industrial base. Cutting between the two neighborhood areas is a major commercial corridor —South Gateway — located along South Michigan and Main Streets. The Rum Village neighborhood stretches between the Rum Village Industrial Park on the west and the Studebaker Corridor and South Gateway on the east. Immediately north of the neighborhood, between Indiana Avenue and Sample Street, is a long corridor of commercial and industrial land uses that starts in the Rum Village Industrial Park and extends to the Studebaker Corridor. The Southeast Neighborhood, on the eastern edge of the Sample -Ewing Development Area, is located between Sample Street and Ewing Avenue, immediately east of the Studebaker Corridor. It is separated from the Rum Village Neighborhood by the major commercial corridor —South Gateway —that serves both neighborhoods. II. PROJECT AREA DESCRIPTION The decision to merge the adjacent sub -areas into a new, expanded area requires re- examination of the Redevelopment Commission's plans and vision for the formerly separate sub - areas. While each sub -area has certain distinct characteristics, the historical, physical, socio- economic, and functional aspects and the development potential and barriers to development within each sub -area have significant commonalities. The following section provides additional information on area -wide conditions and trends. A. PROJECT AREA HISTORY As stated previously, the relationship between the five (5) residential, commercial and industrial sub -areas is physically, historically, economically, and functionally interrelated. From the 1880s to the 1950s the South Bend community (and the larger regional area) was dominated by its manufacturing sector and a handful of industrial giants. Nowhere are our industrial past and future economic challenges more evident than in the Sample -Ewing Development Area, which stretches from west to east across South Bend's near south side. The area, once dominated by large industrial giants such as the Studebaker Motor Company, the Oliver Chilled Plow Company, and Singer, also served as the location for many smaller industrial companies that provided goods and services to the larger companies. The viability and prosperity of the large firms provided the mainspring for most economic activity. Additionally, the commercial and residential areas within the Sample -Ewing Development Area developed, prospered, declined and disappeared in tandem with the industrial areas. Large, multi -story, industrial -8- 5/21/93 r,