Multi-million dollar condominium complex breaks ground in South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Building up and out. More developments breaking ground Tuesday afternoon on the East Bank of South Bend. 

The 320 at the Cascade will change the riverfront and the city for good.

“It’s a special site, there’s no other place like it,” says Tom Panzica, a partner with Wharf Partners, the group heading the project.

It’s a sight that some people in South Bend could wake up to every morning.

“About 15-18 residential condominiums, very high end,” explains Panzica. “They start in the 500,000s for a one bedroom and go on up to more than one million dollars for a penthouse condominium.”

In addition to the units, there’s nine thousand square feet of commercial space.

The more than $38.5 million project is already filling up.

“Approximately one third of the units are already reserved, and that’s without any marketing,” adds Panzica.  “When one does research on the market, there’s a number of homes in the price strata in our market.  I think other projects in the community have proven that there are people willing to and able to pay that kind of money.”

So who is this project aimed at?

Not young professionals, like the other luxury living buildings coming up in the city.

Baby boomers.

“Those people can come downtown, enjoy a walkable urban life, but do it in a way where they’re not giving up so much and they’re able to stay in South Bend,” says Panzica.  “You don’t have to go to Chicago for that lifestyle.”

Money and success that’s already shaping a new South Bend.

Miles Robertson, the General Manager of the Purple Porch Co-Op, in the Cascade’s backyard, sees the drastic change.

“The direction that South Bend is going right now, there’s a lot of people interested in downtown,” he says.  “People get interested in things that feel successful and I think South Bend feels that way.”

He wishes something else, more viable to the city’s business owners, would take over that land.

“If it offered a little more density and a little more affordability, I think it would be better use long term for the city,” adds Robertson.  “If 200 people were going to move down there instead of 30, that really changes the dynamic for the amount of customers we’ll see.”

Both Panzica and Robertson agree, it’s a new era shoveling it’s way out of the dust.

“I’m looking forward to just seeing the riverfront, that’s been a sand-covered, empty lot for 20 years to come alive again,” says Panzica. “It’s a rebirth of the riverfront in the center of South Bend.”