Area developers walked away inspired after taking a tour of the historic Studebaker campus just south of downtown South Bend.

“Kevin Smith, who's the owner and visionary for this complex, has done an amazing job of taking what could easily have been a giant site to be demolished and has made it into a bit of a gem on the south side of downtown,” said David Matthews, developer for Matthews LLC.

The Studebaker factory has been a part of South Bend since the 1870s, but it was an eyesore for some time until Smith, founder and CEO of IQI Balanced Intelligence, saw its potential and worked to transform it into a space for businesses.

“Part of the reason I took the Studebaker building, it put a sense of doubt in the whole community,” Smith said. “So, to take it and transform it and raise it into something that is looking to tomorrow, it inspires other people to dream and to act on their dreams.”

The Building Owners and Managers Association, or BOMA, of Michiana, wanted area developers to gain inspiration from Smith.

That's why, on Thursday, developers and community members took a grand tour of the Studebaker campus.

“Hopefully, the owners and managers who walked through today, as well as the general public, learned some stuff today that they can take home and implement in their buildings,” said Matthews, who is a member of the board for BOMA of Michiana and is running for the South Bend City Council.

The group that toured the campus controls a collective of 8 million square feet of property across Michiana, and Smith believes if they come together, they can renovate the region.

“My objective today was to let them know that they can dream, and then they can take their dream and convert it into reality,” Smith said. “If we dream in unison as a community, we can do whatever we choose to.”

BOMA of Michiana sets up these tours once a month. They send out invites to building owners and managers, but the tours are open to the public for a small fee.

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