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Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
May 18, 2007
11:45 a.m.
Studebaker building to get $14 million rehabilitation
Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-
1564, Jennifer Laurent, City Planner, 235-9336, or Todd Zeiger, Director, Northern Regional
Office, Historic Landmarks Foundation oflndiana, 232-4534
The former Studebaker Administration building, administrative offices from 1969 to
2006 for South Bend's public schools, will get a$14 million renovation and restoration
from a Utah developer to prepare the century-old facility as a high-tech office building.
Mayor Stephen J. Luecke announced an agreement today among the city's
Redevelopment Commission and Board of Public Works with Historic Landmarks
Foundation of Indiana, the South Bend Community School Corp. and the Heritage
Restoration and Development Group LLC of Salt Lake City.
The agreement will result in the adaptive reuse of the local historic landmark as a multi-
tenant, high-tech office building.
"There is no greater symbol of South Bend's 201h_century manufacturing heritage than
the Studebaker Administration building. With this announcement, this landmark building
will become a new symbol for the high-tech transformation that is occurring in South
Bend today," Luecke said. "Where once decisions were made about what kind of
Studebakers would speed along America's 201'-century highways, now there will be
another high-speed on ramp to the information superhighway of the 21" century."
A rich vein of transcontinental fiber optic lines runs through South Bend along railroad
lines and the Indiana Toll Road. Union Station,just across the New York Central and
Grand Trunk Western railroad viaduct from the Studebaker building, serves as one of the
hubs of that network. Since 2003, Union Station has been a home to Global Access Point,
a private firm that provides a world-class hub for digital information, accommodating
more than 90,000-square feet of computer data center space.
The St. Joe Valley Metronet provides an important backbone for growth of local
businesses and for attracting new high-tech ventures with the need to transmit large
amounts of data This 40-mile high-speed data network of fiber-optic lines runs almost
exclusively in South Bend's traffic conduit. The Metronet, overseen by a nonprofit board,
provides a vendor-neutral infrastructure that enables subscribers to connect to the Internet
with virtually unlimited bandwidth. Companies can be two milliseconds away from the
Chicago network for afraction of the cost. This high-speed connectivity and access to
transcontinental fiber linking it to the rest of the country makes South Bend an ideal
location for such high-tech business entities as data backup and disaster recovery
operations, data and call centers, conference centers and research facilities.
"The intended adapted reuse of the building is for ahigh-tech office building, capitalizing
on the building's massive size and proximity to the Metronet backbone," said Jennifer
Laurent, a planner with the city's Department of Community and Economic
Development. "Because this facility was designed as an office building, it makes a much
better candidate for reuse than former factory sites in the Studebaker corridor."
The work will occur in two phases, according to Todd Zeiger, director of Historic
Landmarks' northern regional office.
• Phase I, lasting about six months, will consist of exterior renovation and restoration,
including restoration of the windows, repainting trim, tuck-pointing when necessary
and possible restoration of the front doors. During this phase, demolition will begin
on interior partitions not original to the building, including opening up penthouse
windows over the central court that now are covered by a drop ceiling.
• Phase II, about six to eight months in length, will focus on interior renovation as well
as build outs for specific tenants and other work, such as parking lots, to make
occupancy possible. The building will be re-wired, including with fiber-optic cable,
and receive new mechanical and electrical systems. Spaces will be developed to suit
needs of specific tenants and restoration work will proceed in the administrative wing
and on important historical aspects of the building.
Construction is expected to begin by this fall with occupancy of the building by October
2008.
"We were attracted to the rich architecture and solid construction of the Studebaker
Administration building and its adjacency to the fiber-optic lines," said Doug
Chamberlain, principal of the Heritage Restoration and Development Co. "We see in this
site a real opportunity to build on the history and fiber-optic capacity to re-purpose the
building for the new millennium."
The mayor announced the details of the project today(Friday, May 18, 2007) at the
Studebaker Administration building with Marcia Jones, president of the Redevelopment
Commission; Zeiger of Historic Landmarks Foundation; Chamberlain of Heritage
Restoration and Development Co.; and Dr. Robert Zimmerman, SBCSC superintendent.
According to the agreement, the Redevelopment Commission will commit a maximum of
$600,000 to the project—but only when the developer has a demonstrated investment of
more than $6 million. Cost for the building's complete rehabilitation exceeds $14 million.
"The Commission's financial role would only be triggered with substantial completion of
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Phase I of exterior restoration work, which we gauge to be the critical marketability
threshold of the building," Laurent said. "Public dollars will provide an incentive for the
initial phase of the project, which will bring with it important structural and aesthetic
improvements to the structure. The private market will complete the picture."
The developer also will qualify for Federal Historic Preservation tax credits on the
project.
The city's $600,000 commitment is divided equally between infrastructure improvements
—including curbs, sidewalks, traffic and lighting along South Main Street—and land
acquisition and demolition for parking to support the project. The city's support and
assistance with planning for the area is critical to the success of the project, Chamberlain
said.
The Redevelopment Commission also will consider recommending to the South Bend
Common Council that the developer receive the maximum tax abatement allowable with
consideration of the impact of circuit breaker legislation.
The Board of Public Works, Historic Landmarks Foundation and the South Bend
Community School Corp. each will consider associated resolutions in quick succession
beginning next week to allow for immediate and simultaneous closing on the property,
Laurent said.
Between 1868 and 1963, Studebaker produced wagons and automobiles that brought
global recognition to South Bend. Built in 1909, the Studebaker Administration Building,
635 S. Main St., served as the company's headquarters until the mid-1960s. It was
designed in a Renaissance Revival style by architect Solon Spencer Bemen, who also
designed the downtown JMS Building.
For 37 years, the Studebaker Administration Building served as the Education Center and
administrative offices for the South Bend Community School Corp. The building was
declared a local historic landmark in 1992 by the Historic Preservation Commission of
South Bend and St. Joseph County. The four-story facility was placed in 2006 on Historic
Landmarks' "10 Most Endangered List" after the school corporation vacated the facility.
"The corporation's announcement of the planned demolition of the building for a new
warehouse coupled with negative local perceptions of the building's size — 150,000
square feet—were of concern to Historic Landmarks,"Zeiger said. "But our experience
over time has demonstrated that these historic industrial buildings can be reused in new
and innovative ways."
In November 2004, the nonprofit entered into an agreement with the school corporation
that the facility would be transferred to the Redevelopment Commission or Historic
Landmarks if the private foundation were able to secure a developer with the resources
for "an economically viable restoration and redevelopment plan for the property."
Discussions about the future of the property between the city, Historic Landmarks and the
SBCSC date back to the late 1990s.
SBCSC in August 2004 bought the former Century Building, 215 S. St. Joseph St.,
completing a$7.6 million renovation before relocating in summer 2006.
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Luecke specifically praised Zeiger, who attracted and helped develop the project and
agreement with Utah-based Heritage Restoration and Development Group LLC. The
agreement will preserve one of only two Studebaker facilities that still will be standing in
2008. With federal funding, the city has aggressively demolished many of the "dinosaur"
structures in the Studebaker corridor to make way for new light industrial investment. But
unlike obsolete factories not subject to adaptive reuse, the Studebaker Administration
Building retains some of the glory of those bygone days, including painted murals
depicting the history of transportation.
"This is yet another example of how historic preservation and economic development
work hand in hand. Preservation is good business as is demonstrated by the fact that this
large, historic building—off the local property tax rolls for more than 40 years —is being
re-purposed for a new productive use,"Zeiger said. "Our rich historic past provides many
opportunities for South Bend's future. We are pleased to have been able to play a key
role in saving this building and bringing this project to South Bend."
For information about leasing space within the building, contact Clark Chamberlain at
(801) 898-3380.
"I'm proud of South Bend's heritage and that this project finds a way to honor the
Studebaker legacy as we move ahead to build a 20-century city," Luecke said. "It is said
that history doesn't repeat itself, but that there are echoes of the past in our future. Thanks
to Todd and others who show us that our future lies in finding new ways to use the best
remnants of our past."
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