South Bend schools considering old Studebaker factory for career center
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The South Bend Community School Corp. is looking to place a county-serving high school career center in the Renaissance District, within a former Studebaker factory building converted to office space just south of downtown South Bend.
School board members agreed to explore a lease of the location in a meeting Wednesday night.
That decision was preliminary and will allow administrators to pursue lease terms and architectural agreements for necessary renovations to bring back to the school board at a later date.
An ongoing study, presented by local consulting not-for-profit enFocus, shows renovations to a 50,000-square-foot section of the former Studebaker building’s second floor could cost about $12.8 million, or $9 million less than constructing a new building of the same square footage nearby in South Bend.
Planners say their target is to open the new high school center by August 2025.
Existing programs, like construction trades, culinary arts and precision machining, are already offered among South Bend’s four individual high schools and could be brought together under one roof in a new, centralized center. Planners say the center would also have space for new programs like cybersecurity operations, and automation and robotics.
It’s all a part of an effort to provide new hands-on learning opportunities to students across the county — fulfilling recently redesigned Indiana high school graduation requirements — and to prepare St. Joseph county’s upcoming workforce for jobs of the future.
“People are chomping at the bit,” South Bend School Board President John Anella said Wednesday night. “I hear all the time, ‘When is it opening, when is it opening? What’s happening?’ Because employers want it. Students want it. It’s employment opportunities. It’s workforce development. … There’s money, there’s demand and it’s a great opportunity.”
South Bend School Board President John Anella spoke Wednesday night on the need for a county career center.
South Bend administrators advertised their hopes to open a center during a 2020 referendum campaign. At the time, district leaders promised to spend $8.5 million of a $54 million capital referendum fund on a career innovation center. The school board further endorsed the effort in a 4-3 vote this spring to adopt a facilities plan that would close multiple schools, including Clay High School, and direct money to the consolidation of remaining programs.
The proposed career center would be a first for St. Joseph County, which has no county-wide center serving high school students. School districts in the area currently either offer career-specific programs within their individual high schools or send students to career centers in Michigan City or Elkhart for more specialized training.
Under the model proposed this week, South Bend schools would operate the St. Joseph County career center while other districts could opt to send students there for part of a day while completing other core subjects like math and English at their home high school. The South Bend district would collect state career and technical education funding and tuition for all students attending the center.
enFocus President Andrew Wiand said a working group of area career and technical education directors from other districts meet regularly to discuss what programs would best fit students across St. Joseph County.
enFocus President Andrew Wiand talks about next steps for planning a county career center.
A collaborative center with multiple districts participating allows for a greater breadth of course offerings where one high school alone may have trouble filling full classes of highly specific subjects like automotive repair and aviation management. It also allows for students across the county to make use of expensive machinery and industry-specific technology that could be a difficult lift for each public district to finance on its own.
Planners project the center would serve about 750 students, including 650 from South Bend schools and about 100 from other nearby districts.
In estimates presented Wednesday night, enFocus leaders said the district could seek $5 million in municipal commitments and dedicate $5 million in district bond funding to cover the cost of a $12.8 million center. That would come in addition to the $8.5 million the district has already set aside from its 2020 referendum funds.
South Bend Assistant Superintendent Kareemah Fowler said Wednesday night that administrators don’t know yet how much an annual lease in the Renaissance District could cost. And, the concept has not been universally popular.
A group of taxpayers and parents organized as the not-for-profit group Save Clay Inc. has regularly cast blame on administrators’ desire to fund a career center for the school board’s decision to close Clay High School after this school year.
“I’ve never ever been against a career center,” said school board member Mark Costello, who is supported by the Save Clay group. “My problem has always been how it was developed.”
Administrators, however, point to routinely declining enrollment across the district and the millions needed to renovate Clay, the district’s lowest-enrolled of four high schools. South Bend schools, a district of about 16,000, have lost more than 4,000 students over the last decade, state records show. And, a facility planning company’s study this spring found it would take more than $16 million to renovate and continue running the high school on the city’s north side for the next five years.
Investing in a centralized career center could help reverse enrollment trends, South Bend administrators say, through offering courses not found anywhere else. The district’s survey of students showed interest in career fields in criminal justice, culinary arts and other STEM fields.
Placing these programs at the old Studebaker building near downtown South Bend not only benefits students across St. Joseph County with its central location, but could also put teens close to industry professionals. Current tenants in the building include Purdue Polytechnic; the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership; enFocus; The South Bend Tribune; the athletic training facility, East Race Muscle; and a leading audio equipment manufacturer, LEA Professional.
“We’re the hub of manufacturing, we’re the pipeline, and talking with business owners, we need employees,” School Board Member Leslie Wesley said. “When you survey a lot of the students, they will tell you they want their hands dirty, they want to be hands on.”
Because the school board’s decision Wednesday night was only to allow exploration of the Renaissance District, further public discussion will take place about potential lease agreements, construction bids and project management.
Administrators plan to continue this conversation throughout the fall in hopes of opening a center in time for the 2025-2026 school year.