The University of Notre Dame has been awarded a $30 million grant from Lilly Endowment through its initiative, College and Community Collaboration (CCC). The grant will support a planned tech and talent district encompassing the former South Bend Tribune building in downtown South Bend.

The Downtown South Bend (DTSB) Tech and Talent Hub will include renovated research and innovation space centered in the historic former South Bend Tribune building on the northwest side of downtown, about two miles south of campus.

“The DTSB Tech and Talent Hub will not only enhance Notre Dame’s research capabilities, but also drive significant economic growth and community development in downtown South Bend,” University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., said. “This project exemplifies our commitment to integrating research and innovation with impactful community engagement, fostering both local and regional advancement. We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for its generous support.”

The project, informed by the experience of communities like Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, envisions Notre Dame collaborating with industry to advance applied research in areas such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, and advanced computing.

The hub will offer community-facing programming in an adjacent, accessible venue through a partnership with South Bend City Church, as well as leadership and ethics training in collaboration with Holy Cross College. It will also offer drop-in services to local entrepreneurs as part of expanded University programming.

Notre Dame is one of 13 Indiana colleges and universities receiving grants through the latest and final round of the CCC initiative. The aim of the initiative is to encourage Indiana’s colleges and universities to work closely with community stakeholders to envision and jointly undertake significant community development efforts to create more vibrant places in which to live, learn, work and play.

“While varied in scope and reach, the proposed initiatives and projects reflect a commitment by stakeholders, inclusive of faculty, staff and students from these institutions, business leaders, government officials, and community leaders, to create vibrant communities where all residents can thrive,” said Jennett M. Hill, president of Lilly Endowment. “The Endowment looks forward to seeing all the projects in the CCC initiative evolve. We are enthusiastic about the prospects for both the institutions and communities and are eager to see these institutions and their community stakeholders collaborate to breathe life into their promising projects.”

“The sense of momentum in our community is fueled by a step-change in cross-sector collaborations at the local and state level,” said Shannon Cullinan, Notre Dame’s executive vice president. “We hope that this purposeful reinvention of a historic venue in downtown South Bend will further enhance the region’s bright future.”

The DTSB Tech and Talent Hub represents a major strategic investment in South Bend’s urban core, which is poised for as much as $1 billion in new public and private investment over the next several years, led by a variety of mixed-use apartment projects, a new medical tower and new performing arts space.

The city of South Bend recently launched a downtown planning process, Downtown 2045, to harness that momentum, with the aim of leveraging stakeholder input to establish a vision for the future of downtown and outline concrete steps to get there.

Consistent with that process, the DTSB Tech and Talent Hub seeks to promote a revitalized and recharged urban core — while at the same time advancing Notre Dame’s strategic framework, which, among other things, calls for further collaborations to promote the economic and social well-being of the South Bend-Elkhart region.

“This transformational investment in the heart of South Bend will turbocharge our downtown and our regional economy,” South Bend Mayor James Mueller said. “I am grateful to our partners at the University of Notre Dame and Lilly Endowment for their commitment to a brighter future for our community.”

Notre Dame acquired the three-story former Tribune building — excluding the adjacent press building, which is owned by South Bend City Church — from Schurz Communications in October. The building has been vacant since 2019, when the newspaper, previously owned by Schurz, relocated elsewhere downtown.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion, and it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.