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Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
3:15 PM
Oliver Industrial Park will add distribution facility
Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-
1564;Andy Laurent, City Planner, 245-6112, or Erick Guerra, Real Estate Manager-Rant
Corporation, 286-7672
A South Bend firm that manages and develops warehouse distribution facilities in nine
Midwestern states is seeking to develop its largest South Bend facility in the Oliver
Industrial Park.
RAITT Corp., 815 W. Sample St., is seeking to buy a five-acre parcel in the Oliver
Industrial Park along Chapin Street to construct a 50,000-square-foot warehouse facility
for lease to as many as three tenants. The company's request will be considered Friday
(Sept. 7, 2007) by the Redevelopment Commission.
The parcel is on the 900 block of Oliver Plow Court, property that is part of lot No. 1 in
the industrial park. Construction could begin late in 2007 or early in 2008, but is
stipulated to occur within three years.
"In a previous era, Oliver Corp. built farm implements to open up America to farming.
This new facility in the Oliver Industrial Park will open up new opportunities for
distribution of materials, goods and supplies from South Bend to locations across the
Midwest," said Mayor Stephen J. Luecke. "The City of South Bend is pleased to
welcome the expansion of a locally based business to help our efforts to revitalize the
area."
The firm already has three facilities in South Bend:
• A 41,000-square-foot facility on more than 11 acres at 1415 S. Olive St.
• A 42,000-square-foot facility on more than 11 acres at 815 W. Sample St.
• A 24,000-square-foot facility that's part of 11 acres at 1311 S. Olive St.
Founded in 1956, RAITT Corp. seeks to provide real-estate solutions for the
transportation industry, particularly trucking firms. "With facilities located throughout
nine states we provide real estate solutions and services to various businesses and some
of today's leaders in the commercial freight industry," according to a statement on the
company's web site. "We work closely with all of our tenants to ensure that our facilities
meet the requirements and readiness standards for their daily operations. Not only does
this ensure that our facilities remain in top physical form, but it allows our customers to
invest their time in what really counts, their business."
The 36-acre Oliver Industrial Park,just southwest of downtown South Bend at Ind. 23
and Chapin Street, is the culmination of a five-year redevelopment effort by the City of
South Bend and its Redevelopment Commission. The former vacant factory complex
underwent demolition, environmental cleanup and the construction of new infrastructure
to serve a modern industrial complex. Oliver Industrial Park symbolizes the vision that
the City has for the entire Studebaker/Oliver Project Area: The revitalization of vacant
dinosaur properties into parcels that will be home to thriving businesses for years to come
The Oliver Industrial Park is home since summer 2004 to Rose Brick & Materials, which
renovated the former Oliver Chilled Plow Works boiler house and smokestack into a
commercial building. Four other parcels are available for sale in the industrial park.
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