(12/8/05)

FORMER STUDEBAKER PLANT TO BE RAZED

Associated Press, 12/6/05

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - A building that once housed a Studebaker stamping plant is to be torn down to make way for a new bus maintenance facility.

The city's Board of Public Works awarded a $7.9 million contract to Michigan-based J&L Management Corp. to demolish the building.

Andy Laurent, a city economic development planner, said it is the first part of demolition planned for the 80 acres in the Studebaker corridor on the city's southeast side.

"This will get us halfway there on demolition in the Studebaker area," he said.

Transpo, South Bend's public bus system, is footing half of the demolition cost to build its new headquarters and maintenance facility on part of the site.

A $647,000 settlement in an environmental case against a former occupant of part of the site, Allied Products Corp., will also be used toward the demolition.

The company is expected to salvage some parts of the building. City public works director Gary Gilot said about 75 percent to 80 percent of the building's materials can be reused.

Laurent said a ceremony was planned before demolition work begins sometime in January.

The city already has redeveloped one section of the former Studebaker site as an industrial park. Studebaker halted automotive production in the early 1960s.