Ground breaks on Diamond View Apartments, offering space for tenants with disabilities

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Ground is broken on the Diamond View Apartments in downtown South Bend, a new mixed-income housing complex located just across the street from Four Winds Field.

"It's amazing, it's really neat to redevelop an entire nearly whole square block in a downtown, core location, when you have amazing things like four winds field right here," said Mike Surak, executive vice president and owner at RealAmerica Companies.

The 60-unit apartment building was developed by RealAmerica, the same group behind The Lasalle Apartments in South Bend, formerly the Lasalle Hotel.

"The investment in the Lasalle Hotel has been part of the renaissance of our downtown and the city as a whole," said Mayor James Mueller.

“The Lasalle Hotel was a market-rate development," Surak said. "We really wanted to provide housing for people that need it the most and this is that opportunity to do that.”

The name of the game for RealAmerica, Surak said, is affordable housing.

"Affordable housing is our passion," he said. "It’s what our company was founded on.”

They are able to provide affordable units mostly because of tax credits from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, plus a tax abatement and a forgivable loan from the City of South Bend.

"We need housing across the board," Mueller said. "We need affordable housing, we need market-rate, and our goal is to have mixed-income neighborhoods across the entire city. And this project will help move us toward that goal."

So how affordable will it actually be?

It’s based on area median income (AMI), which is roughly $87,000 a year in South Bend.

Tenants making 30, 50, 70, and 80 percent of the AMI can qualify for lowered rent prices. Those making 30% of the AMI can get a one-bedroom unit at Diamond View for as little as $326 a month.

"I think a typical one-bedroom market rate apartment is running for at least $1,300 or $1,400," Surak said.

This comes at a time when affordable housing is hard to come by in South Bend, but The Logan Center’s President and CEO, Matt Harrington, says it’s even harder if you’re disabled.

“There’s a real crisis when it comes to finding affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities,” he said.

And so,12 three-bedroom units will be set aside for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, equipped to handle their unique needs, in a partnership between RealAmerica and The Logan Center, South Bend's premiere resource for people with disabilities.

"I think affordable housing in general is an issue, but especially for families with individuals with disabilities," Harrington said. "They often worry, 'What happens after my adult child leaves the home? What are their options?' This is a new great option."

"We added more three-bedroom units than we typically would in this sort of development. And that came from The Logan Center, because there's a lot of roommate situations," Surak said.

There will also be space for The Logan Center’s operations inside the building.

“We’re still dreaming with that space is going to look like," Harrington said, "but we envision one that is very inclusive and one that promotes people getting to know one another.”

Surak said they’ll start pouring concrete next week for the Diamond View Apartments. This time next year, he said, they expect to host their ribbon-cutting.

And there’s going to be even more coming to that block, on the intersection of Lafayette Boulevard and South Street. RealAmerica will build two more apartment buildings with 45 units each at market value, which will be called the Stadium Flat Apartments.