New homes rise from vacant lots in South Bend

Part of a proposed mutual housing project called South Bend Mutual Homes, the two- to four-bedroom homes will offer low-income residents the opportunity to live in new housing minus the typical financial commitment.

The houses, both one- and two-story, will feature full basements and detached, rear-facing garages, and they will be on individual lots with yards.

A partnership between Neighborhood Development Associates and South Bend Heritage Foundation, the $4.7 million project already is transforming the area between Lincoln Way West and City Cemetery.

Activity is centered one block south of the Colfax Cultural Center, where foundations now rise from once-vacant lots, representing some of the first new construction in the area in decades.

Nine foundations have been poured, and some framing work has begun.