HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026 Century Center Annual ReportCENTURY CENTER REPORT OCTOBER 2026.
Filed in Clerk's Office
OCT 1 5 2026
Bianca Tirado
City Clerk, South Bend, IN
In 1972 South Bend Mayor Jerry Miller and the Common Council led by Peter Nemeth formed The Mayor1s
Civic Center Committee to plan a civic and cultural center that would include space for the City owned
Studebaker collection of cars and carriages, the community art center, a convention center, a theater for the
drama community and a recital hall for the music community. Public meetings were held in the Common
Council Chambers and were open to all South Bend residents who wished to participate in the
development of the civic center. Over 130 citizens participated in the meetings. The meetings were town
hall meetings where everyone had an equal voice. Subcommittees were formed and planing proceeded.
These meetings were well covered by the media.
The citizen led committees did all the planning for the proposed center. Some of the best minds in the
community volunteered their time and energy to develop the plan for what would become one of South
Bend's most successful community projects.
The Architect Selection Committee asked Ambrose Richards, the head of the Notre Dame School of
Architecture, to put together a list of about 10 of the top architectural firms in the United States. The
Committee invited these firms to come to South Bend at their own expense to be interviewed as
prospective architects for the project. They all came, attracted by the riverfront site in the heart of South
Bend and the scope of the project. The Committee selected Johnson & Burgee to design the building.
Today Philip Johnson appears on any list of the top ten 20th century American architects. His career
spanned the modernest to post-modernest periods. In 1997 Mr. Johnson was awarded the first Prirtzker
Award, the highest International award in architecture. John Burgee, a graduate of the Notre Dame School
of Architecture in1956, was Johnson 1s design partner during the firms1 most creative and prolific periods.
Century Center was designed during this time of the Johnson & Burgee partnership.
Councilman Terry Mille(s Building Planning Committee compiled a detailed report of the space needs of
each of the 5 components that were to occupy the proposed center. The committee gave this report and a
proposed budget to the architect with the instructions to design a great building that would work for the
community for many years. The project had the full support of Mayor Jerry Miller and the members of the
Common Council led by Council President Peter Nemeth. Johnson & Burgee delivered to South Bend a
great building which became one of their firm 1s master works of civic and community focused architecture.
The Civic Center Authority was formed to build and operate the Center. The members were appointed by
the Mayor and the Common Council and represented the downtown business community and the citizens
of South Bend. Richard Rosenthal was the Chairman . The meetings were open to the public and press .
The building was constructed by Sollitt Construction Company. The union workers took great pride in their
work. It was a difficult site with river bank fill, old building foundations and large spans. The local trades
and contractors built a great building on time and on budget.
For the next thirty years Century Center fiourished under the leadership of the Century Center Board of
Managers and Brian Hedman, the General Manager, with the full support of the Common Council and
Mayors Nemeth, Parent and Kernan. Over these years improvements were made to make the visitor
experience and operations better. Countless conventions, trade shows, awards dinners, weddings, proms,
Martin Luther King Day events and celebrations and remembrances took place there over those years.
The Fischoff Champer Music Competition, the largest and longest-running chamber music competition in
the nation, utilized Century Center's stage and Leighton Recital Hall during its formative years in the late
1970s through the1990s, before transitioning to Indiana University South Bend and eventually Notre Dame
University.
In 1983 Discovery Hall, which housed the City's industrial museum, outgrew its space in Century Center
and moved into a larger building to become the Studebaker National Museum. The move gave the
Convention Center an additional12,000 square feet of exhibit space, the last major expansion of the
Convention Center area.
In 1995 local philanthropist June H. Edwards helped fund a major Art Museum upgrade and expansion
within Century Center, designed by Alan Ritchie with Philip Johnson. In September 2026 the Art Museum
was given an eviction notice to vacate their space in 3 years.
In 1995 the 58,000 square foot College Football Hall of Fame, built by the City, opened at a cost 14 million
dollars. The Hall is connected to Century Center by a tunnel. The Hall closed in 2012 and is no longer
used. Century Center is also connected to the downtown DoubleTree by Hilton via an enclosed, climate-
controlled skywalk.
THE FUTURE OF CENTURY CENTER
In 2019 a plan commissioned by the Century Center Board of Managers called for an 80 million dollar
expansion to double the convention space and add a 200 room hotel on the site. No action was taken on
this plan. South Bend has the talent and the ability to compete in the highly competitive, highly visible and
economically profitable convention business by addressing the needs of 21st century conventions.
The tearing down of all or part of Century Center would be an act of cultural destruction. This is not the
1960s and ?Os when urban renewal tore down some of South Bend's important buildings and destroyed the
fabric of downtown South Bend.
In 2027 Century Center will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its completion and opening. The Center has
served the community well over those years. It is a timeless design and an important building in American
architectural history. We should celebrate the building and its successful years with a dynamic plan for its
future on its current site. Century Center should be given local, state and National Landmark status,
recognition and protection.
It is time for the Mayor and the Common Council to form a new Citizen Century Center Committee open to
all residents in the Saint Joseph County innkeepers tax area. The Committee should be charged to review
all aspects of the Center's operations and spaces and recommend the improvements needed so the
Century Center as we know it at 50 years will be able to successfully serve the community for another 50
years and beyond.
Prepared by Ronald Radecki ronaldradecki@gmail.com