American Trust Place: Downtown South Bend Condos

Several condo plans have been announced for downtown South Bend which never reached the stage in which people buy the condos and move in. Since I’ve been paying attention, I’ve registered four Downtown South Bend condo projects that failed to materialize:

• In 2006 the  GameDay Centers announced they’d construct a 12-story building with 150 luxury hotel-condos across from the College Football Hall of Fame with prices from $180k to over $1 million.  The company had internal issues and a shovel never hit the earth.
• In 2007 the Holladay Corporation began conversion of a seven story office building into luxury condos.  They completed two model units and marketed 12 condos from $269,000 to above $449,000. Sales never materialized and the building was later listed for sale at $1.9 million.
• In 2008 a conversion of the top floors of the JMS building into condominiums was announced with 28 units on floors 6-8 and prices of $155,000 to $295,000. They were listed in the MLS and later expired without comment or construction.
• Also in 2008 the city sold the former Rink site to Place Builders to create Colfax Landing, 11 townhomes on the St. Joseph River. Construction has not begun.

There is now a new project that seems ready to surpass the progress the other attempts made. Though specifics are still scant on important topics including pricing, covenants and management, two condos are nearly complete.

American Trust Place, downtown at Michigan and Washington, is a mixed development with residential, retail, and office space. The lower floors will be retail/bank/restaurant and office space. The residential space is on the fourth and fifth floors. There should be 7 condos that vary from about 1,000 – 2,500 square feet.

Until more details are available, here are some photos I took on a recent visit to the building:

American Trust Place Lobby

American Trust Place Commercial Space

American Trust Place Condos – Kitchen and Bath Details

American Trust Place: Residential Views

American Trust Place Old Safe Deposit and Vault Room

American Trust Place was a bank, and the old underground vault room is still there. It’s also one of the more interesting spaces in the building with a stairway to nowhere

American Trust Place is new construction attached to a renovated historic building, and you can follow the seam from first glance all the way through to the foundation.