SOUTH BEND – Mayor Steve Leucke has announced that South Bend is more than two-thirds of the way to acquiring the properties it needs to expand Ignition Park.

Of 150 parcels targets for acquisition along the north side of Indiana Avenue between Franklin Street and Prairie Avenue, the city has acquired 104 parcels, including one recently purchased in a tax sale. The sale of the other 29 parcels is being negotiated. There are 10 parcels that are in others stages of acquisition while seven parcels are owned by railroads.

The acquisition costs of the project thus are $1.8 million – some 45 percent – under the budgeted amount.

“This will expand Ignition Park by an additional 23 acres and help stabilize the Rum Village neighborhood to the immediate south,” said David Relos, economic development specialist for the South Bend Department of Community and Economic Development.

Ignition Park and the 12-acre Innovation Park next to the University of Notre Dame make up South Bend’s dual-site, state-certified technology park.