Projects
“Cultivating South Bend’s String of Pearls”
The Green Alley Project at 1102 W. Colfax builds a critical link in a larger vision for a greenway. This project constructs the first trail segment. It will connect the historic South Bend City Cemetery to the institutions at the heart of the neighborhood on W. Washington Street.
Funding
• Community Foundation of St. Joseph County
• City of South Bend
• Anonymous Donor
• Urban Sustainability Directors Network
Construction Status
Planning Phase
Contractors
LBA Landscape Architect
Connecting Community
This segment is critical to the creation of the greenway because it connects the large public green space of the historic City Cemetery to the educational and cultural centers at the heart of the neighborhood on W. Washington Street.
This infrastructure project will transform an underutilized city-owned alleyway on W. Colfax and adjacent vacant lots owned by SBGC. It will create a beautiful, safe, climate-resilient public space, expand urban tree canopy, and enhance connectivity. The concept calls for a pedestrian path, vehicle-grade alley, and park-like green space populated with native trees and understory plantings.
The work on the concept of the Green Alley began with support from the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, who awarded SBGC an Emergent Learning Grant in 2024. With that support, SBGC hired Jonathon Geels of Troyer Group, who created the first renderings. SBGC also partnered with the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Civic Innovation, led by engineering professor Jay Brockman, who assigned summer interns to the project. They gathered data, convened focus groups, conducted interviews, and surveyed neighborhood residents and stakeholders. That work helped create the vision being brought forth in the Green Alley Project.
Future Projects
The creation of the greenway requires a series of interventions, infrastructure projects, and artistic and cultural installations. These are the next steps.
Design Charrette
The SBGC and Near Westside Neighborhood Association are working hard to hire consultants to conduct a charrette. This professionally led, intensive, public design process will bring stakeholders and community members together to address the mile-long greenway and its surrounding neighborhood. Stay tuned for announcements and spring 2027 dates!
Heritage Lots
Two vacant lots at 1113/1117 W. Washington Street flow directly into the Green Alley at W. Colfax. They are adjacent to Notre Dame W. Washington and are owned by South Bend Heritage Foundation. These vacant lots have been identified for the creation of park space along the greenway.
Laurel Street
The proposed trail runs along the westside of The History Museum and Studebaker National Museum campus. This part of the greenway offers enormous potential for a redesigned streetscape that would transform public space, revitalize an underperforming street, frame the Navarre Homestead site, and enhance both museums’ access and programming space.
