ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Local economic and business leaders from around the area gathered Wednesday to hear from elected officials and a member of the regional chamber.
It's all part of a new town hall type of meeting aiming to keep the public informed about local developments.
Economic and business updates for the community from two local elected officials.
South Bend Mayor James Mueller and Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood discussing upcoming projects that will help stimulate the local economy.
The event took place at Morris Park Country Club, with a goal of getting a chance to update the public and others on different plans throughout the two cities.
"The development on the riverfront over across from Howard Park, there's the JC Hart project that's moving forward over by the old Crowe building, we're going to be moving forward with a project with Press Ganey called River Glen. That property in between that was in dispute, we did get good news from the court last week that we will be able to move forward there as well," said South Bend Mayor James Mueller.
For Mayor Wood, he viewed today's event as a chance to further engage with the business community, and he discussed a project he himself is rather excited about.
"The redevelopment of the former Oak Grove trailer park on the corner of Birkett and McKinley, into a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood, of roughly 65 homes. This is kind of the continuation of the Fields at Highland, when we built with President Carter and 2000 volunteers all over the world, we built 23 homes in one week, now that subdivision, that neighborhood is almost full, and we're ready to keep momentum going with a new neighborhood and that one will be, I think, just a treasure in Mishawaka," said Mayor Wood.
"We can't build housing fast enough, and we can't build enough housing, and it's really all types, so we've taken an all of the above housing approach, single family, multi family, and everything in between, market rate, affordable, and everything across the income spectrum, with a goal of establishing mixed income neighborhoods across the city, which will really lift up all of the city and have those opportunities and amenities available for our entire city," said Mayor Mueller.
Visit South Bend Mishawaka also announced record growth for tourism in the region in 2025, with local hotels seeing their busiest year ever.