HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-02-10 Progress continues on expansion of Ignition Park
Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
September 2, 2010
4 p.m.
Progress continues on expansion of Ignition Park
Contact:
Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564
or David Relos, Economic Development Specialist, 235-9371
The City of South Bend is about halfway to acquiring targeted properties for an
expansion of Ignition Park, one portion of its two-site state-certified technology park, by
creating a clear boundary along a neighborhood thoroughfare at its southern edge.
The property acquisitions are part of an effort to expand the technology park, located near
downtown in the former Studebaker Corridor, from its original designation of 83 acres to
as many as 140 acres. Expanding Ignition Park’s southern edge would create a clear
boundary along the north side of Indiana Avenue between Franklin Street and Prairie
Avenue.
The South Bend Redevelopment Commission will receive a staff report, Friday morning,
from the Department of Community and Economic Development that 69 of 150
properties scheduled for acquisition have been acquired or have signed purchase
agreements. The City is in some stage of negotiations with owners of 39 parcels, and has
had introductory discussions with many of the owners of another 35 parcels. Seven
parcels are railroad-owned.
Through negotiations and acquiring other properties through tax sales, the City has kept
total acquisition and relocation costs to $615,545, compared with the $1.375 million
budgeted for the parcels.
“This effort will expand Ignition Park by an additional 23 acres and help stabilize the
Rum Village neighborhood to the immediate south of the planning area,” said David
Relos, economic development specialist for the City of South Bend. Additional
acquisitions have taken place on Ignition Park’s eastern boundary between Franklin and
Main streets.
Ignition Park, located southeast of Chapin and Sample streets, was designated in 2009 by
the State of Indiana as part of a state-certified technology park along with the 12-acre
Innovation Park at Notre Dame, which is next to the University campus. Together, they
represent the only two-site, state-certified technology park in Indiana as well as the only
affiliated with two research institutions: the University of Notre Dame and the Indiana
University School of Medicine in South Bend.
Innovation Park, which opened in 2009, now has eight client tenants.
# # #