Law Building to become center for economic development in St. Joseph County

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind--- The three-story Law Building in downtown South Bend will be turned into an economic development center for St. Joseph County.

The offices of Economic Development, Area Plan Commission, and Public Works will join the Building Department in the Law Building, located at 125 South Lafayette Boulevard.

The move will prevent potential developers and business owners from having to go to multiple locations to get approval.

“We think it’s a better way to do government,” said Bill Schalliol, Executive Director of Economic Development for St. Joseph County. “What we want to do is make sure all the pieces are lined up so when someone is ready to build, they don’t have a lot of delays in the process.”

In addition to consolidating the four departments into one location, the county will move permit forms online. “We’re moving into the 21^st century,” said Schalliol “The more processes we can eliminate or streamline, the more we can move development along.”

The departments will physically move towards the middle of 2019 but will begin consolidation on January 2.

This story has been updated to correct an error regarding the name of the building that houses the Building Department.