Farmers Market District

A Design Study for the Eddy Street Cloverleaf Removal and the Area Regeneration

Published in February 2022

Case Study Overview

In the 1960s, freeway-style cloverleaf intersections were imposed at the Eddy Street Bridge near the South Bend Farmers Market to facilitate easier commutes for Studebaker factory workers. Ironically, the factory closed just as the ramps opened, and rather than supporting the local economy, the infrastructure proved devastating to nearby businesses. This study proposes strategies to repair the neighborhood fabric and activate the riverfront by replacing the cloverleaf exit ramps with pedestrian-friendly streets and place-based buildings.

Current Status

Using the work produced in this charrette, the City of South Bend was awarded $2.4 million in federal funding to engineer the removal of the Eddy Street ramps and the restoration of the street grid in the Farmers Market District.

Developable Land along the River

Aerial view of the existing conditions looking southeast. Developable land is highlighted in red. Source: Google Earth.

Existing Conditions

The Farmers Market District today, despite a handful of operating businesses and event spaces, is defined by the freeway-like infrastructure, unsafe local roads, surface parking lots, and vacant buildings. There is approximately 130 acres potentially available for redevelopment.

The red-colored areas represent a range of conditions: land recaptured from the potential removal of the freeway-like infrastructure; the existing Farmers Market and its surface parking; vacant and dilapidated buildings; as well as empty land and surface parking lots. Some of the privately-owned buildings within the developable areas will remain and be incorporated into the design.

Masterplan Overview

"The overall masterplan incorporates the proposed street network and greenbelt, described in the full case study report, with a series of smaller neighborhood-level design interventions.

While this study was initiated to explore the removal of the freeway-like ramps, that change will require federal funding and take years to realize. The proposed design interventions for each of the areas in this district are independent and can move forward regardless of the ramp removal.

Zone A: Northeast Ramp
Zone B: Farmers Market
Zone C: The Brick
Zone D: West Cloverleaf

Proposed Masterplan: Building Framework

Detailed design interventions have been proposed for zones A–D shown in the masterplan.

Zone B: View of proposed South Bend Farmers Market from E. Mishawaka Avenue

New Farmers Market

While the Farmers Market is a beloved South Bend institution, the current market building is surrounded by surface parking lots, and the structure is in need of updates. This masterplan proposes relocating the market building to face E. Mishawaka Avenue in order to foster a closer connection to the retail core of the district. The main market building is shown set back behind a row of market kiosks that mask a service lane wrapping the market, which allows the farmers to back their trucks directly to their market stalls.

Missing Middle Housing

The removal of the vacant YMCA opens this Zone up to the development of a full range of housing types. Apartments, townhomes, fourplexes, and multiplex apartment houses are shown lining a new street that turns in from Northside Boulevard by the railroad, then wraps around and comes back out onto Northside Boulevard near the location of the YMCA building. This street angles to transition the orientation of the railroad to the grid of the adjoining neighborhood.