City seeks grant for work to raze former Dodge Foundry for future street, housing

MISHAWAKA — A project to turn the former Dodge/RMG Foundry site at 500 S. Union St. into a neighborhood with a 6th-7th Street connector is moving forward with a grant request to begin the transformation.

The city is seeking a $2.25 million Lily-LEI-READI II grant to help pay for 20% of the $11 million project. The grant would primarily go to the blight removal of the former foundry, ground remediation and work on the connector road as part of the city's master plan for the 22.4-acre property .

A fire on Feb. 11, 2013, consumed almost 91,000 square feet of the building. The 400,000-square-foot remaining portions of the foundry would be razed under the project. The city is planning to build a road connecting with the 7th Street-Union Street intersection through the former foundry property to 6th Street at Laurel Street.

The goals with the remaining land outside of the grant request are to develop 80 single-family affordable homes, with an additional 60 senior low-income housing units. A trail would be built, and officials say the road would fill out the city grid by bringing traffic to the city's Union Street underpass. Laurel Street has a railroad crossing, and motorists could use the new connector road to reach the underpass when trains are present.

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The master plan also would use land to expand the city's Central Services complex that exists to the south. Also included are plans to expand Fire Station No. 1 with a building addition to handle future equipment and staff quarters.

Ken Prince, director of planning and community development , told the Redevelopment Commission at a recent meeting that the master plan likely will not be put into place until at least 2029.

"Although we know it will take years to remove the blighted industrial building and construct infrastructure, the goal of creating more workforce housing in partnership with Habitat for Humanity meets an ongoing critical need for our community and region," Prince said in his letter to the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership for the grant request. "Having a diversity of housing options is critical to keep our region competitive. The economic impact to the City and the quality of life impact of this blight removal and future development will be a tremendous asset to our region."

The grant request through the Partnership would try to tap into the Lily Endowment grant announced in January as a complement to the READI grant program in the state.

The Indiana Economic Development Commission is expected to dole out $185 million as part of the Blight Reduction & Redevelopment Initiative that is designed to help communities with "property rehabilitation projects, including historic structures, remediation, rehabilitation or demolition with new construction and single-family home rehabilitation to assist a targeted community," according to an explanation on the Partnership website.

Prince said the grant request would help the city raze the Dodge Foundry site and place housing on the land.

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com .

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: City seeks grant for work to raze former Dodge Foundry for future street, housing