Downtown street, parking garage closure impacts nearby businesses
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WSBT) — A South Bend parking garage and downtown street remain closed.
Safety concerns from the falling façade forced the garage at the corner of Wayne and Main Streets to shut down back in late March.
For Cambodian Thai restaurant, this garage and street closure can't end soon enough.
With the street shut down directly in front of the business, some potential visitors to Cambodian Thai have been under the impression they're not open.
"Cambodian Thai hopes this gets resolved soon. People are assuming we are closed due to the construction, but we are open for business."
A little more than 100 feet up the street, it's a different story at CJ's Pub.
“They're doing a lot of repairs over on this street, so businesses across the street from us would have more issues than us because we still have our parking garage over here and that, but as long as the city is working to help and to get things going for everybody, it's just part of doing business I guess,” said Judy Gish, Part Owner of CJ's Pub.
The main branch of the St. Joseph County Public Library sits right near where Wayne Street is closed off.
A spokesperson for the library says the closure is a small price to pay for the larger picture of city advancement.
“There's a lot of exciting things happening downtown since the beginning of 2020, South Bend has experienced an investment of over $1 billion, and investment in our community takes time, and new construction and renovation projects make our community better, so we're excited to see investment in downtown and investment in South Bend,” said Marissa Gebhard, SJCPL Communications Manager.
WSBT reached out to the city of South Bend to try and get an update on when they expect Wayne Street and the garage to reopen.
"The parking garage and the intersection at Main and Wayne streets will remain closed until further notice while the owner finalizes its plan to ensure the garage is safe."
WSBT also spoke with the Bradley Company, which manages the garage, about when they think the street will be back to normal and have yet to receive an answer.
