SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – It’s a fixer-higher of historic proportions.
The Lafayette Making in downtown South Bend (115 S. Lafayette) is claimed to be the to start with-at any time industrial office environment building in the town, in that it catered to many unrelated tenants.
The constructing dates again to 1901. The last private proprietor of the home shed it to back taxes in 2018. The metropolis is now looking thoroughly for the following personal proprietor.
The most prominent aspect of the creating is the atrium. All 5 flooring have a balcony, and there is a substantial skylight on the roof.
“This is almost certainly the tallest atrium in the city of South Bend by significantly, and it’s only just one of a handful of, it’s probably just one of the most distinctive inside areas in the metropolis,” stated South Bend’s Residence Development Manager Joseph Molnar. “We really like this atrium, which is why the city stepped in to help you save the creating in 2018, and we’re hoping to help save the atrium for, you know, for another 100 decades to arrive.”
Occupancy peaked in the 70′s and 80′s at about 150-tenants, in accordance to Molnar. The creating has since fallen into disrepair. A leaky roof brought on in depth h2o harm, and the developing was sold at tax sale.
Whilst there’s a great deal of perform to be carried out, a great deal has now been done as the town has invested about $750,000 on the residence.
“So, the city around the earlier several yrs has been placing in resources to fix the skylight, place a brand name-new roof on, brand new drainage system, cleaned the exterior of the developing, do asbestos and lead removing,” Molnar explained.
Demolition isn’t an choice. The constructing is secured as a local historic landmark.
The town has set out a ask for for proposals on the rehabilitation and reuse of the building. An open up property will be held on Oct, 18. The proposals are thanks on Jan. 28, 2023.
“The hope is that now we have gotten it stabilized, we stopped the bleeding, so forth, on the constructing and we’re hoping a developer now can appear in, commit even a lot more funds, and seriously get the developing occupied again,” Molnar claimed.
Copyright 2022 WNDU. All legal rights reserved.