MISHAWAKA RIVERWALK AND RIVER CENTER
HISTORY
The 43 acre Uniroyal Site lies in the heart of Mishawaka, extending
3,000 linear feet along the St. Joseph River. The mass of buildings
and ancillary structures of the former Uniroyal plant effectively
cut off the river from the Central Business District, both visually
and physically. The site contains 57 buildings, and over 1.7 million
square feet of dilapidated abandoned industrial space. The site
was used for the manufacturing of various products since 1833. At
its peak during World War II, some 10,000 employees worked on site.
On April 1, 1997, the doors closed permanently as the final manufacturing
operations moved from the site. A year later, the City of Mishawaka
took control of the property through a lease agreement (with option
to purchase) with the bankruptcy court trustee in order to facilitate
the redevelopment of the site.
The City’s intent is to make this property productive again for
our community by spearheading the redevelopment of the site and
stimulating the revitalization of the Central Business District.
The control of this property by the City of Mishawaka has enabled
the community to look at ways of reintegrating the river and the
site into the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.
In November 1998, the City of Mishawaka retained The Troyer Group
to lead a series of community meetings, assimilate the resulting
input and develop a conceptual master plan for the long term redevelopment
of the Uniroyal Site. This document is that conceptual master plan.
Numerous options and alternative ideas were developed throughout
the planning process. These plans were reviewed, studied, revised
and refined to produce recommendations of a final master planning
strategy. These recommendations represent the melding of ideas into
a feasible concept plan for the future of downtown Mishawaka.
PROJECT CONCEPT
Create a river front urban mixed-use development which takes maximum
advantage of its geographic location adjacent to the river and within
the Central Business District by developing views, walkways and
community spaces, and whose purpose is to rebuild this portion of
downtown as a gathering/activity place containing commercial, business,
residential and public uses.
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