South Bend may annex land to its northeast for senior housing project

SOUTH BEND — City officials are considering annexing 7.5 acres of land that's contiguous to the city so that a community of duplexes can be built on the site.

The proposed site, at 17023 Hepler St., is currently located in an unincorporated portion of St. Joseph County, just west of the city of Mishawaka. If annexed, the site would be rezoned from a single-family neighborhood to an “Urban Neighborhood 2” in the city of South Bend. The annexation is necessary so that the 38 duplexes and three single-family homes that are planned for the site can use South Bend’s sewer and water lines, officials said.

At the Aug. 26 South Bend Common Council meeting, Steve Smith, broker and owner of Irish Realty, the company spearheading the project, said that the project is aimed at seniors who want to downsize.

Irish Realty bought the site in 2020 and has been considering what housing product to put there since then, Smith said. The company's goal is to build affordable homes because housing costs have skyrocketed in recent years. For instance, a 1,500-square-foot detached home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on a $50,000 lot in the region costs around $450,000, he said.

“It’s not affordable for a vast majority of our citizens … it’s just not working,” Smith said.

The homes that Irish Realty is proposing to build once the annexation is approved will be more affordable. The plan calls for one- or two-bedroom homes that include a one-car attached garage and a parking spot in the driveway ranging from $200,000 to $300,000.

“We're expecting pricing to start in the mid-200s, which is a price point that is still high for new construction but one that we have not seen in our community since this inflation started to run away.” Smith said.

Though the project is aimed at seniors, there won’t be age restrictions on who can buy a home in the development, he said. Smith estimated that if the annexation and other approvals were granted, construction would begin at the start of 2025 and residents could start moving in toward the middle of 2026.

The site is mostly surrounded by other residential properties — suburban homes in South Bend to its west, manufactured homes in Mishawaka to its east, apartments in Mishawaka to its southeast and civic spaces like a school and two churches to its south.

Skip Morrell, principal development planner with the city, said that the proposed annexation and rezoning is consistent with South Bend's comprehensive plan’s objective of encouraging residential units that contain a mix of housing types, densities, price ranges and amenities.

“Ultimately … it's responsible development and growth to require that properties contiguous to the city are annexed into the city upon development, so they're developed under the city standards,” Morrell said.

If annexed, the city will not take on any capital improvements at the moment because both water and sewer lines would be available to the site from Creekbottom Drive. Michael Divita, principal planner with South Bend's community investment department, presented the fiscal plan for the proposed annexation.

“The … area would be added to the common council's fourth district, and served by Police Beat 11, Fire Station 3, Emergency Medic 9, and Neighborhood Services and Enforcement Area 6 with response times comparable to other areas of the city,” Divita said.

Chris Godlewski, an urban planner at the consulting firm Abonmarche represents the developers. Turning vacant farm ground into housing will bring new property taxes, income taxes and residents to South Bend, he said.

“The capital improvements are none, since these are private roads … so those landowners are taking some of the burden of maintenance,” Godlewski said, “I would say that this is a pretty positive aspect for the city financially.”

The proposed annexation has passed the plan commission and the city’s zoning and annexation committee with a favorable recommendation.

The South Bend Common Council will likely make a decision about the annexation at its meeting Monday, Sept. 9.

Email Tribune staff writer Angela Mathew at amathew@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend may annex 7.5 acre parcel for senior housing project