South Bend Heritage Foundation Taking Steps to Bring a 42-Unit Multi-Family Affordable Housing Project to the Area
Please see below to read the South Bend Tribune article regarding the South Bend Heritage Foundation's 42-Unit Multi-Family Affordable Housing Project.
South Bend Tribune - Greg Swiercz
Updated online July 30, 2025, at 10:01 am ET
Click here to read the article. If this link no longer works, the full article with the map is below.
(This story has been updated because an earlier version contained an inaccuracy. The St, Joseph County Department of Health is not a partner in the South Bend Heritage Foundation's development plan on Old Cleveland Road.)
South Bend offers land for 42-unit affordable housing project near low-barrier intake center site.
This is a South Bend Heritage Foundation project (not a Housing Authority of South Bend project).
SOUTH BEND - South Bend Heritage Foundation is taking steps to bring a 42-unit multi-family affordable housing project to land south of the area earmarked for a low-barrier, housing-first intake center for the homeless.
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Pictured: A map of the proposed 42-unit Tri Day housing project by South Bend Heritage Foundation on land south of the proposed housing-first New Day Intake Center for homeless people. The foundation is seeking low-income housing tax credits for the project. - Provided, South Bend Heritage Foundation. |
On Thursday, July 24, the Redevelopment Commission agreed to a purchase agreement that sells 7.5 acres of land at 4022 Old Cleveland Road to South Bend Heritage for $1,000. The foundation agreed to spend at least $13.5 million on the housing project, to be called Tri Day.
The agreement takes into account South Bend Heritage's application for low-income housing tax credits for the development. The sale of the land and the agreement depends upon the agency getting the tax credits from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. The tax credit recipients will be announced in November, and the agreement will not move forward should South Bend Heritage fail to get the credits.
The city currently owns the 15-acre parcel at 4022 Old Cleveland Road. It was offered for sale earlier this year for $825,000, with a stipulation that it be used for a low-barrier intake center for homeless people.
South Bend Heritage's purchase of the southern half of the 15 acres leaves the northern half available for development as the New Day Intake Center for the homeless.
The site was the last in a series of properties considered by the city and Motels4Now, the agency that would build and run the New Day Intake Center, as the new location for the program currently in place at the Knights Inn at 3233 Lincoln Way W.
There were no bids for the Old Cleveland Road property at the June 12 Redevelopment Commission meeting. The commission is required to wait 30 days before it can begin talks or make agreements with any potential buyers.
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Pictured: Marco Mariani, Executive Director of South Bend Heritage Foundation (photo provided by South Bend Heritage Foundation). |
Joseph Molnar, assistant director of growth and opportunity, said the city is in negotiations with Motels4Now, and there currently is no final agreement so far for the north half of the property at 4022 Old Cleveland Road.
But Molnar told the commissioners the housing project proposed for the southern half of the site would be a welcome addition to the area as well serve to lessen the affordable housing shortage in the area.
Creating Housing
The Tri Day housing project for Old Cleveland Road comes on the heels of South Bend Thrive, a South Bend Heritage housing project nearing completion this fall near McKinley Avenue and Hickory Road on the city's far east side near the new Youth Services Bureau headquarters.
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Pictured: The housing units are being constructed July 2025, at South Bend Thrive Development north of the Youth Service Bureau headquarters off McKinley Avenue and Caterina Drive in South Bend. - Greg Swiercz, South Bend Tribune |
The $15 million project features 16 buildings with 54 units of affordable one- to four-bedroom layouts that will be in duplexes, townhouses and six-plexes, along with a community center.
Marco Mariani, executive director of South Bend Heritage, said the South Bend Thrive project is close to the Town and Country Shopping Centre across the city border in Mishawaka.
"It's so convenient. It's integrated into the rest of the neighborhood," he said. "I think it's going to be a place that will age gracefully and will be a place for people to raise their families."
Mariani told the commission the partnerships forged with Motels4Now and Oaklawn for the Old Cleveland Road development will be a part of the gateway center-affordable housing plan.
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Pictured: The housing units are being constructed July 2025, at South Bend Thrive Development, north of the Youth Service Bureau headquarters off McKinley Avenue and Caterina Drive in South Bend. - Greg Swiercz, South Bend Tribune |
"This will be owned, developed and managed by South Bend Heritage Foundation," Mariani said.
Despite other affordable housing projects that build two- or three-building complexes with multiple units in them as a cost-cutting measure, Mariani said the plans for South Bend Thrive and Old Cleveland Road call for multiple smaller groupings of units that better resemble neighborhoods.
"It creates a place where people want to live, and it's something that fits in with the balance of the community," he said.
Because the Old Cleveland Road partnership worked as a group, it will compete for the tax credits in a much smaller group of applicants called the "housing first" integrated housing set-aside.
Should the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority award the tax credits, Mariani said, work will begin on designs and financing, with a start for construction in early summer 2026 on an 18-month timeline.
Mariani said he thinks the site is close to amenities off Portage Road, such as shopping, retail, banking, and medical services.
"As it develops over time, with the additional work the city is doing, I think there's more opportunity for residential development there," he said.
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Pictured: Sheila McCarthy, Motels4Now Director, speaks Monday, January 27, 2025, at the Common Council meeting in the County-City Building in South Bend. - Greg Swiercz, South Bend Tribune |
New Day Project
Meanwhile, Sheila McCarthy, director of Motels4Now, said Tuesday, July 29, the New Day center will serve chronically homeless people who are not accepted into other shelters because of substance abuse or mental health issues.
She said the development agreement for the project with the city's Redevelopment Commission is expected soon, as early as sometime in August. Once in place, she said, construction bids will be prepared this fall, with a groundbreaking on the first phase of the 120-bed intake center still this year.
"There is not a lot of permanent supportive housing," McCarthy said. The Tri Day neighborhood, with some units set aside, could serve as a transition for people who typically spend 5-6 months in the first stages of the "housing first" model used at Moteld4Now.
Fundraising for the New Day facility is at 94% of its first phase goal, McCarthy said, adding that she is looking forward to the partnership with South Bend Heritage Foundation.
Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@gannett.com.
