Indiana Dinosaur Museum project may receive $2.7 million from the city of South Bend
SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- The northwest side of South Bend will soon be home to one of the largest tourist attractions in the city complete with dinosaur bones, a chocolate factory, and year-round entertainment!
“I’m building a tourist attraction on the west side of town, and I think it’s going to transform the northwestern edge of South Bend,” says Mark Tarner, owner of South Bend Chocolate Company and fore-front of the project. “It’s going to be a one-of-a-kind, four-season attraction that I think in and of itself is going to be something that people come and study across the country, right here in South Bend, Indiana.”
If approved by the South Bend Common Council and the Economic Development Commission, the project may see a $2.7 million loan from the city as early as November.
“What we proposed is a forgivable economic development loan to support the project,” says Caleb Bauer, Acting Director of Community Investment for the City of South Bend. “That loan will be forgivable if the project were to open by June 30th of 2024, and after the project has documented expense of that $15.4 million in private funding.”
The project will provide at least 144 jobs and much-needed economic activity on the west side of town.
“We are very excited about what this project can bring to South Bend and the destinations and tourism draw that it can be, and we also believe that unlocking this project can help spur other development in that area around the project site,” Bauer says.
“No one’s really made a large retail investment on that side of town,” says Tarner. “We look at Mishawaka and now parts of the downtown for retail are out by Notre Dame, but this is going to put the focus on the west side, and hopefully when we plant that seed, it’ll grow.”
Tarner’s hobby for collecting dinosaur bones has turned into a venture that fulfills his passion for seeing his hometown grow into a tourist destination.
“Until I found Juliette, I think it was in ‘13 or ‘14 and she had skin on her,” says Tarner about a dinosaut bone he found. “The Indianapolis Children’s Museum wanted the dinosaur, and they actually wanted to track my company too and I thought why am I doing that, why don’t I do it here?”
The Indiana Dinosaur Museum and park are expected to be open in June of 2024.