SOUTH BEND – A local development company will construct a five-story hotel downtown as part of a plan to redevelop the former College Football Hall of Fame.
JSK Hospitality will pay $1.2 million for the 52,000-square-foot Hall of Fame, which has been vacant since 2012, when the National Football Foundation moved the hall to Atlanta. The building will serve as the new hotel's lobby.
Under the terms of an agreement announced this morning, JSK will construct the 120-room “major brand” hotel next to the Hall of Fame, in what is now a parking lot at the northwest corner of St. Joseph Street and East Jefferson Boulevard.
The Redevelopment Commission owns the lot and will sell it to JSK for $1.
The Hall of Fame itself also will house JSK’s corporate offices, which are currently located on Indiana 933 in Roseland.
A use for the lower level of the building, which measures 5,000 square feet, has not yet been determined, but it may become retail space.
The gridiron plaza, which hosts events such as the Sunburst Races and Urban Adventure Games, will remain available to the public 30 times per year.