The terminal line: 1949, 1981, and the present concourse

1949 — present

Three buildings, one address: The airport's first real terminal was a 1949 building designed for 25,000 passengers a year; by the end of its life it was accommodating about 400,000. Its replacement was planned early — a 1975 authority document, "Michiana Regional Airport: Multi-modal Airport Terminal Concept," is the planning ancestor of everything since — and the new terminal opened in 1981, designed by HOK and Cole Associates, built beside the 1949 building, which was torn down as the new one expanded east. Additions in 1986 and 1994 brought the terminal to about 155,000 square feet, and John Schalliol, who became executive director the year it opened, remembered the assumption of the time: "it seemed like the new facility would last forever." The present concourse came in a $15.8 million expansion — the Tribune put the construction figure at $14 million — by Ken Herceg & Associates: five new gates and 45,000 square feet, opened in November 2010, with the final phase, a consolidated passenger screening checkpoint, completed in February–March 2012 just before Schalliol's retirement. The terminal today is one nine-gate concourse with eight jetways at gates 2–9 after a 2024 gate refurbishment, and it keeps a traveler's viewing area with live air-traffic-control audio and a small airport museum inside. The next project is out front: SBN UpFront, a nearly $20 million reconstruction of the front drive and passenger-safety areas, broke ground in 2026 on a build of about a year and a half.

Sources:

1. Airport Improvement Magazine, "South Bend Airport Completes Expansion & Changes Leadership" (2012) — the 1949 terminal's 25,000-passenger design and ~400,000 actual; the 1981 terminal built adjacent, the 1949 building demolished as it expanded; the 1986 and 1994 additions to ~155,000 sq ft; the $15.8 million concourse project, five gates, 45,000 sq ft, opened November 2010, final phase February 2012; architects Ken Herceg & Associates.
2. South Bend Tribune via Aviation Pros, 9 March 2012 — the 27-month, $14 million terminal project completed; the terminal built in 1981, designed by HOK and Cole Associates, expanded in 2011 by Ken Herceg & Parpandy Associates, one nine-gate concourse; St. Joseph County Airport Authority, Michiana Regional Airport: Multi-modal Airport Terminal Concept (1975).
3. St. Joseph County Airport Authority releases, 2024–2026 — the gate refurbishment (eight jetways, gates 2–9), the in-terminal viewing area and museum, and the SBN UpFront project, nearly $20 million, groundbreaking held 2026.