The University of Notre Dame’s vision for a dense, walkable “college town” joining campus to the wider community is nearly complete after almost 20 years of planning and construction, succeeding despite economic headwinds including a global recession and subsequent housing crash and a worldwide pandemic, the effects of which continue to reverberate across the real estate market.

The result of a public-private partnership between Notre Dame, Kite Realty Group, and the City of South Bend, among others, the project on University-owned land south of campus broke ground in 2008. It proceeded in three phases, spanning the 2009–12 global financial crisis and the ongoing but receding coronavirus pandemic.

Today, the area, once marked by substandard housing and a glut of vacant and abandoned homes and lots, buzzes with activity, invigorated by dozens of new shops and restaurants—including national brands like Urban Outfitters and Chipotle and local favorites like O’Rourke’s and Purely Pressed—plus more than 700 new apartments and townhomes and two new hotels.