The $6 Million Side Project – Live at The Hibberd
South Bend on Purpose is a podcast about place, belonging, and South Bend hosted by Jacob Titus and Dustin Mix.
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Three years ago, a local couple purchased a seemingly nondescript printing plant in downtown South Bend for $240,000. In the coming months, together with eight additional partners, the couple would gather $6 million to undertake what is perhaps the city’s most ambitious and risk-laden side project in recent history.
Their goals: contribute to the city’s resurgence and “don’t lose any f***ing money.”
Welcome to episode two of season 3 of South Bend on Purpose. This season we’re telling the stories of people who are betting on South Bend by investing new purpose into old spaces, whether that's an old industrial building or a once lively plot of land; people whose internal purpose has manifested itself into a physical part of our city – the streets, parks, buildings, and restaurants of South Bend.
Each episode tells the story of a space in South Bend, and the season is structured around a series of live events where we interview the people behind the projects.
On Monday, March 25th we hosted the first of these live events in the basement of The Hibberd (photos), a historic printing plant finding new life as a mixed use apartment and retail space in downtown South Bend. Our guests, Mark Neal, Kyle Copelin, and Deirdre Mylod, are longtime city contributors and three of the partners in The Hibberd restoration project.
Our conversation explores their decision to risk time and money on a restoration project, The Hibberd’s contribution to South Bend’s resurgent narrative, and their vision of a vibrant, walkable downtown.
1891 map of the block, with the building shown near the bottom right corner.
1960 map of the block, with the building shown at the top in orange.
St. Joseph County historical survey cards for the building.
1926 South Bend Tribune advertisement searching for tenants to operate inside the new building alongside the printing company.
A pre-construction photograph of The Hibberd as it stood for decades in downtown South Bend.
A mid-construction photograph of The Hibberd from across Main Street.