First new office building in 20 years opens in South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - A ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning brought dozens of people to the new Barnes and Thornburg building downtown.

It’s the first new building in the city’s downtown core in 2 decades.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this after all this time," Phil Faccenda, the Office Manager and Partner at Barnes and Thornburg said.

It’s the first new building in downtown South Bend in 20 years.

“I think we had the groundbreaking back in April 2019 and so it’s been over 2 years," Faccenda said. 

But it’s not the first time Barnes and Thornburg have had a presence downtown.

"We originally were founded in 1926 in the building right across the street," he said.

In fact, they have been around the area for

'Nearly 100 years in South Bend," he said.

The new construction, just adding to the downtown revitalization we’ve seen over the last decade.

"This particular piece of land sat idle for parking mostly for that time. Just really excited to have this new building, have Barnes and Thornburg the main tenant of the building, reinvesting and putting roots in the downtown," South Bend Mayor James Mueller said.

"We get comments all the time saying ‘geez there is so much building in south bend’ and to be a part of that and the cornerstone of that with a brand new building it’s just fantastic and rewarding,' Faccenda said.

65 people currently work in the building and Mayor Mueller hopes more businesses will lay down roots, too.

"There’s still a lot of opportunities here in our downtown core and the downtown is where a lot of the jobs in any city are created and housed and we need to continue to create jobs and have opportunities in our community," Mueller said.

There was also a food drive at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. And every week there will be food trucks parked outside, the proceeds going to charity.