SJC Commissioners weigh options for future of County-City Building

SOUTH BEND, Ind.—The County is considering moving their offices out of the decades old County-City Building on Lafayette Boulevard.

The building has housed both county and city offices for more than half a century. Now, as the City of South Bend plans to vacate the top floors, county commissioners are exploring following suit.

Carl Baxmeyer, the President of the Board of Commissioners sat down with ABC57 Wednesday.

“It’s something that needs to be considered, do we go somewhere else? And that’s where we’re at,” said Baxmeyer.

Commissioners say it’s their responsibility to evaluate the county’s long-term use of the space.

“That’s our responsibility to negotiate contracts,” he said. “For lack of a better word, the Commissioners are the landlord of this building, and all the buildings.”

Last year, a facilities condition assessment revealed that it would take between $70 and $90 million to fully renovate the County-City Building. That includes urgent needs like a new roof and updated plumbing, on top of two new boilers already installed when the building lost heat in January 2024.

“I do know it was in the late '60s that this building was built,” said Baxmeyer. “It definitely has some needs ,just like our homes, eventually you have to replace the furnace, replace the roof.”

Baxmeyer said a local group has expressed interest in buying the property for mixed-use development, and that has reopened the conversation about whether the county should stay.

“It is great that somebody is potentially interested,” Baxmeyer said. “But it opens a question of where do you go? And we are in the very first steps of looking at where we could possibly go.”

Right now, the location being considered is the Studebaker Building near Four Winds Field. But Baxmeyer said the final decision will come down to costs and accessibility.

“Yes, it is an exciting possibility,” he said. “But you have to temper your enthusiasm with- is it feasible?”

While there’s outside interest, Baxmeyer did not reveal who is looking to buy the property, and he made it clear, no county offices are leaving just yet.

“The only group that’s beginning to pack up, as I understand it, is the City,” he said.

City offices are expected to move into the former South Bend Community School Corporation headquarters this fall. An exact move-in date has not yet been announced.