Habitat starts planning for 2020 build and homes, park at South Bend Scottsdale site

SOUTH BEND — Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County announced Wednesday that it wants to repeat a major, weeklong building blitz in 2020, just south of the new Mishawaka neighborhood where hundreds of volunteers worked alongside celebrities in August.

The size of that project will depend on fundraising, said local Habitat affiliate CEO Jim Williams, adding that an anonymous donor recently pledged $900,000 for the next phase of building — to be matched with $1.8 million in local fundraising.

The announcements came Wednesday during the Habitat affiliate’s annual volunteer appreciation luncheon at Century Center, attended by about 400 people.

Also, Williams said, the charity hopes to build 12 homes in a South Bend subdivision. When The Tribune asked, he and his staff said it would be at the site of the long-vacant Scottsdale community pool and clubhouse, on the city’s south side, where the city hopes to build a park. Ownership of those 5 acres is still in the county’s hands, tied up by legal issues, said Jake Teshka, the South Bend Common Council representative for that district.

The property is on York Road, just south of the U.S. 20 Bypass. If it can be acquired, Teshka said the land would be divided into a parcel for a new city park and the rest for the homes. The double development, he said, would be “fantastic for the whole area,” but at some point he wants to have a meeting with neighbors for them to learn more and give input.

Teshka said he’s talked with several neighbors about seeking a better use for the deteriorating Scottsdale pool and clubhouse, now vacant for perhaps 20 years, which he said is “not only an eyesore, it’s a hazard.” The district’s prior council member, Dave Varner, had also spoken often about seeking a new use for the site.

City Parks Director Aaron Perri said the idea of a park there is early in the process. While there aren’t any concepts for it, he said the pool and clubhouse would likely be razed. If the project happens, he said, this would provide a park in a target area, a side of the city that’s lacking a park.

Williams said he’d like for Habitat to build 20 homes in 2020, but fundraising will dictate how many — and so will the cost of connecting streets and utilities. The homes would go into the 40 empty lots that Habitat acquired just south of where the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project took place in August, all of it northwest of Jefferson Boulevard and Byrkit Avenue in Mishawaka. The Carter project helped to erect 23 homes for families, qualified by income, who will pay no-interest loans.

Williams said the 2020 workweek would “keep the energy going” after the August build. This wouldn’t be an official Carter project, which ushers in the Carters, country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood and help from Habitat’s international organization. Still, he said he’ll invite the celebrities to return. No specific date has been set.

There are still 17 vacant lots among the 23 homes that are being built this year, with help from the Carter project, and Williams said Habitat will try to sell those to for-profit home builders. As The Tribune reported last month, Habitat still hopes to build a small park in that subdivision, too.

Meanwhile, the 10th and 11th families will move into their homes in the Carter project neighborhood. A total of 16 are expected to be in the homes by the end of December, with the remaining 7 to move in through the end of March, Williams said. Volunteers are still needed to finish several homes. To help Habitat for Humanity, call 574-400-3209 or visit www.hfhsjc.org.

The charity, he added, is still seeking families for six Habitat homes in South Bend’s Shetterley Triangle, a neighborhood along California Avenue, just east of Portage Avenue and the Near Northwest Neighborhood Center. To apply, visit www.hfhsjc.org.