Expansion goes beyond Four Winds Field, new restaurants, bars, housing adds to recent DTSB development

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Just as Four Winds Field has undergone major growth in the last year, so has the area surrounding it.

Some of the development fans will notice this season are more new apartment buildings popping up, a new bar to pre-game or post-game at, and a social house bringing a new kind of entertainment downtown.

Instead of coming and going just for baseball games, families and friends can plan their entire day with more to do in the heart of South Bend.

Just a short walk from the home of the South Bend Cubs, folks can hear duckpin bowling balls rolling down short alleys and pins crashing at Ivy Alley Social House.

"It's been going great," says Nathan Klein, co-owner of Ivy Alley Social House. "We were able to have, use a little bit of the slower season to figure out some of the kinks, and now it's picking up." 

The former Spenner Garage building turned social house just opened its doors in December but is already making a name for itself as a hub for downtown entertainment; with eight duckpin bowling lanes, arcade and board games, local brews, and brick oven pies. 

"It's all about the socialization and being able to be with friends and family," Klein says.

Opening day of the South Bend Cubs season will mark the start of a busy summer, surely attracting families coming to and from baseball games. 

"We've been hiring up more for servers, bartenders, kitchen, all around," says Klein. "Just trying to get prepared as much as we can." 

Moving closer to the diamond, on the first floor of the Ivy Apartments that surround Four Winds Field, La Esperanza Mexican Restaurant and Shamrocks Sports Bar have made their home. 

"Just like any other construction project, we've had our delays; we still have a few of them," explains Co-owner of Shamrocks, Josh Thompson. "But I guess the cliche is we're kind of in the home stretch right now."

Thompson says they won't be ready to serve drinks on opening day, but they're aiming for a grand opening in mid-April, and he promises the wait will be well worth it. 

"The product we're going to try to create here, a little bit more of an upscale bar experience," Thompson says. "We hope people appreciate the things we're doing here from a quality standpoint; trying to create a very safe place but obviously a very immersive experience." 

The new businesses popping up are giving this side of South Bend more of a Wrigleyville vibe. 

"If somebody could come down here and make an entire day out of it, that's really what myself and what these other businesses that are in close proximity to here are hoping for," Thompson explains.

"The idea that a 20-something can have a really good experience as can that family that's bringing along 2 or 3 kids along the way, or maybe even grandparents in town, it's pretty special that we can have offerings that allow for all of that," says Jeff Jarnecke, Executive Director of Visit South Bend Mishawaka.

Jarnecke explains that this recent development is helping reshape the narrative- about downtown. 

"That was one of the areas that was flagged as we did our research in a Tourism Master Plan, of this perception and this idea both from locals and from out-of-towners that there wasn't enough to do in South Bend," Jarnecke explains.

But not only is the Four Winds district a place people can visit, it's becoming a place where people can live. 

"Economic growth happens, but you need housing there to support that as well, to kind of keep pace with the growth going on in the city," explains Ryan McMonagle, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Real America LLC.

Three new apartment buildings will complete Real America LLC's nearly $40 million investment into the block across the street from the stadium. 

Phase one of their project is the 60-unit Diamond View building, which started leasing in December. 

"Right now, we've got 12 residents living here, 33 units leased, and a waitlist of over 155 applicants," shares McMonagle.

That demand will spill into phase two of their project; an additional two buildings with 92 units combined called the Stadium Flats. 

It will replace the dirt currently sitting next to Diamond View by next season. 

"We want South Bend to be a place you come to live instead of just come to an event," McMonagle says. "That's kind of what Diamond View and Stadium Flats really help evolve that mission." 

"There's a sense of life and energy that wasn't there and is only there because of year-round housing for locals to enjoy," says Jarnecke.

For these new, local businesses, the start of the 2026 South Bend Cubs season merely marks the crack of a bat in their own seasons. 

"We're all kind of getting things moving at the same time, so it's been interesting teamwork there," Klein says.

It's only the first inning in the game of growth in the heart of South Bend. 

"Downtown South Bend is having a moment and is going to be even more so on the map here within the next three to five years as well," Jarnecke assures.