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No. 0818 designating the WWCDA, declaring the WWCDA to be blighted, approving a development plan and conditions under which relocation payments will be made, and establishing an allocation area for purposes of tax incremental financing
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No. 0818 designating the WWCDA, declaring the WWCDA to be blighted, approving a development plan and conditions under which relocation payments will be made, and establishing an allocation area for purposes of tax incremental financing
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10/18/2012 3:25:58 PM
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HISTORY OF PROJECT AREA <br />The West Washington - Chapin Development Area is located in what is commonly known as <br />the Near West Side Neighborhood in South Bend, Indiana. The Neighborhood is located <br />immediately west of the South Bend Central Business District. See Map 2. One of the <br />earliest additions to South Bend's original 1831 plat, the neighborhood became the <br />site for large homes of many of the community's early industrialists, such as the <br />Studebakers, Olivers, O'Brien, and Birdsells, during the latter part of the 19th <br />Century. With large factories constructed within or very near the neighborhood, the <br />Near West Side also became the location for more modest housing for the many workers <br />employed within these factories. <br />The South Bend community was thriving at this time, having become a major industrial <br />center. By the late 19th Century several commercial districts had developed within <br />the neighborhood along West Washington, Chapin and Western Avenues. Most shopkeepers <br />owned their own businesses and lived in apartments above their stores. <br />Over time the Near West Side Neighborhood changed. Following the Depression and <br />World War II, the neighborhood experienced significant physical and economic decline. <br />Problems of crime, neglect and negative image increased. Property values declined. <br />Gradually upper middle and middle income residents moved out creating a <br />predmominantly low income neighborhood. <br />In recent years, however, some reinvestment has occurred in both the residential and <br />commercial areas of the neighborhood. Attracted by the opportunity of rehabilitating <br />an older home, a number of families and professional offices have moved back into the <br />West Washington Historic District. The City's Bureau of Housing has administered <br />residential loan programs within the neighborhood over the last twelve years. In <br />addition, South Bend Heritage Foundation, a Community Development Block Grant <br />sub- grantee and a non - profit corporation that has been active in the neighborhood <br />over the last fourteen years in both residential and commercial building <br />rehabilitation,has administered a commercial loan program which has focused on the <br />West Washington Commercial District since last year. Both efforts have done much to <br />encourage additional investment. <br />Despite these efforts and those of Federal programs through the 1960's and 1970's, <br />problems remain, particularly within the commercial districts along West Washington <br />and Chapin Street. Of the 32 commercial structures on West Washington, 22 are now <br />vacant. Of the 15 commercial structures along Chapin Street, 6 now stand vacant. <br />Based on 1980 census information and recent field surveys, 16 percent of the <br />residential structures throughout the neighborhood are vacant. <br />WW /6 <br />-3- 10/23/87 <br />
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