07-12-2007 Studebaker Corridor passes tipping point to recovery

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,SOUTH e� 4 �d F �y U C PEACE Ins Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE July 12, 2007 11:30 a.m. Studebaker Corridor passes tipping point to recovery Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 or Andy Laurent, Project Manager, 245-6112 The Studebaker-Oliver Redevelopment Area, the single largest brownfield reclamation effort in Indiana, now has more open green space than vacant industrial shells as it passes the tipping point toward ready-to-build sites for a proposed light industrial park. The Studebaker Factory Plant 2 section—bounded by Sample Street, Franklin Street, Indiana Avenue and Chapin Street—records two significant milestones this week as the entire Studebaker-Oliver Redevelopment Area passes the halfway mark to total cleanup of its 140 acres and 5.8 million square feet of aging buildings. • The final cleanup of the South Bend Stamping Plant, the largest facility in the Studebaker corridor, was completed June 30 —two weeks ahead of schedule and $500,000 under the contracted amount. The 1.5-million-square-foot project on 40 acres is the largest demolition in the city's history. By itself, the former Stamping Plant is comparable in scope to the Uniroyal site in Mishawaka, although it represents a little more than one-quarter of the Studebaker-Oliver Redevelopment Area's acreage. • Crews from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region V office began working June 25 at the South Bend Lathe site, 400 W. Sample St., performing initial environmental remediation work in preparation for the start of the facility's demolition later this summer. The Board of Public Works is scheduled to put out the demolition contract for bid in mid-August. Mayor Stephen J. Luecke and South Bend Common Council members will tour the site at 11:30 a.m. Thursday(July 12, 2007) under the guidance of Andy Laurent, project manager for the redevelopment area, to see land reclaimed from industrial mistreatment and to watch as the EPA removes an underground storage tank from the South Bend Lathe site and conducts other cleanup activities.