Demolition underway to make room for Colfax Corner development

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A busy block of downtown South Bend is getting a major facelift.

Demolition has been happening at the northwest corner of Main Street and Colfax Avenue over the last few weeks to make room for a new mixed-use research and innovation hub campus called Colfax Corner.

"It's really part of a bigger vision that's part of the downtown master plan, the 2045 Master Plan for a Tech and Talent District," says Willow Wetherall, Executive Director for Downtown South Bend. "This is Notre Dame's latest investment in downtown South Bend."

Developed by the University of Notre Dame and Ancora, a DC based investment management firm, the redevelopment will bring research, talent, and innovation to the heart of South Bend.

"This is going to create an opportunity for entrepreneurs and private industry tenants to come in and take space and be able to partner directly with these innovators and researchers at Notre Dame," explains Ancora CEO Josh Parker.

On top of retail and restaurant opportunities for the public, it will bring more than four hundred jobs and a direct economic impact of more than $750 million over the next ten years.

"When you think about the rich history of manufacturing, the rich history of innovation that has occurred in the South Bend area, and you think about what the next generation of that is going to look like, around advanced materials and advanced manufacturing, around quantum and AI, around data science," says Parker.

"Having another 400 people working downtown, that is a really big deal," Wetherall explains. "We're going to see a really big impact on the life and vitality of this area."

To make room for Colfax Corner, a building known as Main Street Row had to be torn down.

"Yeah, it was heartbreaking," says Dean Younis, Manager at Nom Nom Pho.

Local Vietnamese fusion restaurant Nom Nom Pho called Main Street Row home for about a decade.

It has since found a new home just a block over on Washington Street, and even though they say business has taken a hit, it's also a new opportunity to grow.

"The regulars, they know we are here, but our visibility is kind of like way less now than it was before; however we're trying to make a difficult time into an opportunity," says Younis. "It's a much larger place and we're hopeful that we're going to turn it into a much better deal."

The other half of the block is the former South Bend Tribune building, which will be redeveloped as part of the Colfax Corner development.

City leaders say the project sets the tone for even more growth in the downtown neighborhood.

"Having people work downtown and the kind of investment it catalyzes to support additional housing and all of the support businesses. We are really starting to see things coalesce in such a positive way," Wetherall explains.

Parker says they're working behind the scenes to finalize design now with construction starting later this year.

He says construction would take about two years. Learn more about the project and see renderings here.