Dozens of homes to be built in Mishawaka in under five days

Mishawaka officials say they’re planning to build a brand new neighborhood from the ground up in just a matter of days.

This new neighborhood will go on the vacant land near Byrkit and Borley Ave.

“It used to be a little league baseball field,” said Mayor Dave Wood. “It was a great use for it, but that park has long since gone away.”

The field was more recently used as a trailer park, before it was vacated again.

The city eyed that location for development of this size for a while.

The owner donated the property to an organization partnering with the city to make that project happen.

“They’ve built about 37, 38 homes [in the city] in the last few years,” said Mayor Wood.

The city partnered with Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County.

Together they plan on building a neighborhood through the international program called the Carter Work Project, sponsored by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

“The work that we’re doing in St. Joseph County but also encouraging other habitat affiliates across the state to try to increase their capacity and help even more families in honor of the Carters, those are all factors that went into them selecting Mishawaka,” said Jim Williams, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County.

In just five days, hundreds of volunteers will fill the space and build 20 homes for low-income families from the ground up.

“Just the sight of it, the sounds of it, is something like you’ve never experienced,” said Mayor Wood.

This will be a win for the region too.

“We’re going to use Notre Dame facilities for some of the bigger banquets and events that coincide with this unique event and also they will be staying in South Bend,” said Mayor Wood.

The Carter Work Project will be in Canada this year and will make its way to Mishawaka in September 2018.

This isn’t the first the project has been in Michiana.

Benton Harbor was chosen in 2005.