Stakeholders plea for action to be taken on historic Portage Manor building

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- There's a new chapter in the fight over the future of Portage Manor.

The former home for the disabled is almost at the three-year mark since it was shut down, and it has sat vacant since.

Because it's a designated historical building, it cannot be demolished.

That leaves the door open for future development, but there was some confusion on which government entity is even responsible for the property in order to move forward with future planning.

Word got around back in November that Saint Joseph County would transfer ownership of the Portage Manor property to the city of South Bend, but a spokesperson for the city confirmed Wednesday that the city does not currently have ownership of the property.

So, it's up to the County Commissioners to figure out what to do next, which still owns the surrounding acres and the historic 10,000 square foot building at the property in Northwest South Bend.

Stakeholders are asking commissioners to act sooner rather than later.

"We've been having the conversations now about the future of that property for five years, it's been closed for going on three, so we think that it's time," says Steve Sass, a local ecologist who has done multiple ecological studies at the Portage Manor land.

Sass and Saint Joseph County Surveyor Derek Dieter have been spearheading these conversations for years. . . What does the future hold for the Portage Manor property?

But ultimately, it's not their decision to make.

"They're driving the car right now, so it's up to them to do an appraisal, hopefully they do that, then we take steps along the way," says Derek Dieter, St. Joseph County Surveyor.

He says an appraisal of the more than 100-year-old building would be a good start, so any future developers could get an idea of how much work and money it would take.

Several ideas have been thrown around for the future of the building; everything from a haunted house to a farmers' market, a culinary college, or most recently entertained: a school.

"We had a local school, St. Thomas More Academy, which is very interested in the building, but unless the Commissioners move forward with an appraisal, we don't really have a process for which they or anybody else could bid on the building," explains Sass.

As far as the land surrounding the building, Sass says neighbors have made it clear they would like to see it remain natural, open space.

That's a main reason why they're pushing for quick action now, so they can preserve that land and not lose it to an outside developer.

"I've had a lot of people that have come to me and said 'What can I do? I want to come out there and help with this', and at this point, until we have some sort of a plan, my response to them is 'Let's hold off until we know what's going on with this', because I don't want people to waste their time if it's going to be bulldozed and built into more carwashes or dollar stores, or what have you," explains Sass.

"Hopefully somebody comes up with a good idea and has the capital to do it," Dieter says.

Dieter and Sass say they've reached out to several entities like the County Park Board, Soil and Water Conservation District, and Purdue Extension to see if any would take on ownership and stewardship of the property.

Since no one has shown interest yet, the pair have taken steps to start a not-for-profit entity called the Portage Preserve to take on leadership themselves.