Key Points:AI-assisted summary
  • The South Bend Heritage Foundation is completing a $15.1 million affordable housing project called SB Thrive.
  • The new complex includes 54 apartments across 18 buildings, with monthly rents ranging from $900 to $1,300.
  • Thirteen of the apartments are designated for individuals with behavioral health needs, with support from service partner Oak Lawn.
  • The foundation has also broken ground on its next project, SB RESI, which will build 22 single-family homes on vacant lots.
SOUTH BEND — Andrew Strasser and his fiance´e, Summer Yeats, were one of the first residents to step into their new SB Thrive apartment at the apartment complex’s ribbon cutting Tuesday morning. 

During their first glance, the couple’s faces lit up. They couldn’t believe they now had a kitchen twice the size of their old one, a second bedroom just for their 1-year-old son and a new neighborhood to grow roots into for a price they could afford.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for a while, and I’m really excited for my son to quite literally thrive,” Strasser said. 

South Bend Heritage Foundation developed SB Thrive as an entirely new neighborhood built on what was previously vacant land owned by the city at 3301 McKinley Ave., near Youth Services Bureau and the former Target and near Town & Country Shopping Center.

Originally pitched in 2020 as a way to bring more affordable housing to the city, the SB Thrive neighborhood consists of 18 buildings and a total of 54 apartments starting from $900 to $1,300 per month. The project took $15.1 million to complete and includes three six-plexes, five townhomes and nine duplexes as well as a community center. 
Copyright © 2025, South Bend Tribune