City of South Bend purchases Elwood Shopping Center

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – The City of South Bend went shopping on Thursday for a shopping center.

The Redevelopment Commission agreed to pay $1.4 million for the Elwood Shopping Center at Portage Avenue and Elwood Avenue.

Tenants like “Chinese Restaurant,” and “H and R Block” were listed on signage there. That’s apparently all that’s left after the rest left.

“It’s a plaza that really was a key node for the neighborhood. It’s fallen on some hard times and has lost its anchor tenants,” South Bend Community Investment Director Caleb Bauer told WNDU 16 News Now. “Martin’s, which became Portage Meat and Market, and the CVS Pharmacy are no longer at that site, and really not many of the retail storefronts are currently occupied.”

Bauer says there are no imminent plans to demolish the shopping center, although demolition is likely given the circumstances.

The shopping center is adjacent to the site of the former Drewry’s Brewery. The city would like to combine the 18-acre Drewry’s site with the 8.6-acre shopping center property to “really revitalize” the Portage Elwood corner.

“We’re pursuing a variety of grant opportunities,” Bauer explained. “We’re in the process of pursuing an EPA Change Grant for the brewery site. If awarded, it could provide up to $20 million for redevelopment of that site.”

Bauer says the Change Grant program is part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“And it’s a grant really taking a look at what are some big issues for communities as far as environmental justice and reversing, you know, potentially things like this where we have a large industrial facility located within a neighborhood, and ultimately we had a large contamination from the asbestos containing demolition debris,” he said.

The deadline for submitting the grant is Nov. 21, with awards expected to be named by the end of the year.

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