No. 2456 expanding the boundaries of the Airport Economic Development Area, expanding the allocation area for purposes of tax increment financing and amending the Airport Economic Development Area Development Plan (Portage Prairie)

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• Assist the neighborhood residents, businesses and institutions in • developing an effective, efficient neighborhood organization with the capacity and leadership to: a) participate in the revitalization and improvement effort; and b) protect and maintain its physical, social, economic and organizational achievements. • Integrate the Riley High School project into the neighborhood revitalization and improvement program and build on the positive spin-off potential from this project. B. STUDEBAKER CORRIDOR The Studebaker Corridor contains 220 acres and is located immediately south of the downtown. It is separated from the downtown by the elevated railroad lines that run east and west. There are four viaducts that funnel traffic between the downtown and the Studebaker Corridor. We have incorporated the South Gateway area (South Michigan and Main Streets) into this planning and development sub-area. We have also added several small sections of redeveloped light industrial area located along Prairie Avenue and Chapin to this sub-area. With these additions, the acreage in this sub-area increases by approximately 90 acres for a total of 310 acres. The general boundaries for this reconfigured sub-area are now Michigan Street (east) Chapin and Prairie Avenue (west), Ewing Avenue (south), and the elevated railroad tracks (north). (See Map 7.) • The Studebaker Corridor was declared a redevelopment and tax increment allocation area in 1986. Soon after the declaration, the Redevelopment Commission began seeking funds to implement the redevelopment and revitalization plan. A successful general obligation bond petition drive was completed in 1990 and work began to acquire, relocate, clear and assemble sites for redevelopment purposes. Prior to Redevelopment's initial efforts, the former Studebaker Motor Company's main complex consisted of 12 buildings with a total of 4,808,544 square feet of space. Many of the buildings were severely under utilized, some were vacant, and all had major deferred maintenance problems. Active businesses were located in several of the buildings, including Allied Products' South Bend Stamping Division (now EWI), Huckins Tool and Die, South Bend Lathe, and several multi-tenant facilities. Of the 4,808,544 square feet of space over 48 percent was vacant and much of the occupied space required substantial repairs. The fringe area, adjacent to the former plant area, included many small viable businesses, interspersed among a number of incompatible, deteriorating land uses. These land uses included deteriorating residential structures, many of which were subdivided for multi-tenant purposes. Deteriorating commercial and industrial buildings and small parcels of vacant land along Michigan, Main and Lafayette also added to the negative conditions and image of the area. Several areas within the fringe area contained •