Fourteen months ago, the city of South Bend, Ind., unveiled its newly renovated Main Library that local officials were hopeful would expand economic activity and provide the community with more flexible meeting spaces.
A team that included Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) had updated 85,000 sf of the existing 116,500-sf library, and added a new 40,000-sf Community Learning Center. This $40 million project, which occupies a 3.4-acre block, was a partnership between St. Joseph County, the city, and the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County.
The library, which before its renovation had been drawing more than 1,000 daily visitors, has been a magnetic force for downtown South Bend since at least the 1950s. That attraction was predicted to strengthen now that the library is connected to the standalone Community Learning Center (built on what had been a vacant lot) via a new…
