This is a rendering of one of the tiny homes that will be built this spring along Portage Avenue in South Bend. Illustration provided
This is a rendering of one of the tiny homes that will be built this spring along Portage Avenue in South Bend. Illustration provided
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SOUTH BEND — Four years in the making, Mike Keen’s dream of building tiny houses finally hit the earth Wednesday as a line of people worked tiny garden shovels for a ground breaking on a small parcel — two houses, in fact, at 907 and 907½ Portage Ave.

But it also marked a step in a broader transformation of a 3-acre spread that he calls Portage Midtown, where he is reclaiming tired and vacant spaces.

“We’re trying to build it up for everybody,” said Keen, a long-time resident, living on Riverside Drive, as he talks about a collective process that involves and supports the neighbors.

A division of Nappanee-based Borkholder Buildings that specializes in energy-efficiency, New Energy Homes, designed the tiny houses, including a solar film that will attach to the roof.

Keen, who is manager of Hometowne Development LLC, sees this as a way to “change how America builds,” by using “materials that last 100 years, not 20” and that don’t end up in a landfill.
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