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Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
Friday, June 22, 2007
5:00 PM
Sale will facilitate expansion of 2 downtown businesses
Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-
1564, or Bill Schalliol, city planner, 235-5842
Two downtown-area businesses will begin expansion this summer, after the South Bend
Redevelopment Commission approved the sale of a city-owned property that allows one
business to move into a larger facility and its current neighbor to expand.
The Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved a staff recommendation Friday
(June 22, 2007)to sell the former Enzyme Research property, 412 S. Lafayette Blvd., to
Wightman Petrie Inc., a company of engineers, surveyors and landscape architects with
offices at 713 S. Scott St.
Wightman Petrie is offering $131,000 to buy the facility, in which the company plans to
invest $80,000 to $100,000 in renovation to serve its daily needs as well as to improve
the fagade and landscaping. The company also sought immediate access to the property to
perform maintenance and repairs, and begin renovation.
The 9,000-square-foot facility has been vacant since 2006 when Enzyme Research and a
sister company, R2 Diagnostics, moved into a more than 25,000-square-foot facility at
1801 Commerce Drive, on the south side of South Bend Regional Airport.
The sale and relocation also will allow for the Wightman Petrie's current neighbor, AB
Custom Fabricating, 707 S. Scott St., to expand into the firm's existing facility for which
a sale already has been negotiated, according to David M. Rafinski, Wightman Petrie vice
president.
"Just last year, [AB Custom Fabricating] completed a building addition to their current
operation and has found the need for further expansion of their business. We view this
proposed project with the Enzyme Research building and our current property as a
winning opportunity, not only for ourselves but for other downtown businesses and,
importantly, the City of South Bend," Rafinski wrote in a letter to the Redevelopment
Commission. "Through the expansion of our company and AB Custom Fabricating, this
proposal opens up more employment opportunities within the downtown district for two
existing South Bend companies. Through investment by both companies, it also will aid
in improving property values as well as increasing the option income tax base."
"We've known that most of job expansion comes from existing companies in the
community, not from outside recruiting," said Mayor Stephen J. Luecke. "We're pleased
that Wightman Petrie and AB Custom Fabricating are among the majority of local
businesses with plans for increased employment or investment in South Bend over the
next year."
Through a partnership begun in 2006 between the City of South Bend and the Chamber
of Commerce, visits to local business owners revealed that 57 percent are buying new
equipment, 41 percent are increasing investment in their facilities and 56 percent plan to
increase employment, adding about 600 new jobs to South Bend's economy.
With corporate offices in Elkhart, Wightman Petrie opened its South Bend office in 2003
with a staff of two professionals. Today, the South Bend site is near capacity with 15
staff, and the company plans to add additional staff immediately.
"It is our intention that new staff personnel will be based out of this proposed building
until it has reached capacity," Rafinski wrote. "We feel that this property suits our growth
projections for the foreseeable future and has the ability for us to add an additional 20 to
30 employees in this building."
In addition, recent hires by Wightman Petrie and business expectations for AB Custom
Fabricating, a structural metal fabricator, require Wightman Petrie's move from Scott
Street to be complete by Aug. 1. "This will require that we perform our renovation work
as well as physically moving our operation in an extremely short time frame," Rafinski
wrote, asking the Redevelopment Commission for assistance in granting timely access to
the property.
"It has been our intention as well to be a part of the downtown business district and to
continue to help in the development of the downtown area," he said.
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