What is being built

Under construction or in funded planning, November 2026

The Memorial tower: Downtown's largest project is Beacon Health System's new Memorial Hospital tower, topped out on 10 October 2025 and opening in phases rather than at once: Beacon’s release of 31 August 2026 announced its 26-bed adult intensive care unit to receive patients in late October 2026, with the remaining floors targeted for spring 2027 — an announced phasing, printed as announced; no account of the move itself stands in the record reached as this section closes. The project's cost prints here at both published figures, unaveraged: announced at $232 million, and reported at $257 million in the Tribune's 2025 year-in-review and $257.7 million by Michiana Business News in April 2026. Beside it, Beacon's announced consolidation of its behavioral-health services takes effect on 1 December 2026, the closing line of the Hospitals section's present record.

Big Cat Tracks: At the Potawatomi Zoo, Big Cat Tracks — the Amur leopard and tiger habitat, the final phase of the zoo's 2016 master plan — broke ground on 14 August 2025 at a cost of $5.5 million and has been under construction through 2026; it is unfinished as of November 2026, and no opening date is printed here because none stands in the record reached.

The viaduct artworks: On 13 August 2026 the city's Redevelopment Commission approved $1 million for public art and lighting at the Lafayette Boulevard, Main Street, and Michigan Street viaducts, under the Downtown South Bend 2045 Plan — funded and commissioned, not yet made, as the Tribune's account of 17 August 2026 leaves it.

Union Station's planning phase: The return of passenger trains to Union Station is in its planning phase, on two dated steps: the city's Redevelopment Commission bought the station's Grand Hall and parking lot, 0.95 acres, from Kevin Smith for $2.43 million on 23 July 2024; and on 19 August 2026 the Federal Railroad Administration awarded $3.85 million — 80 percent of a $4.81 million planning-and-development phase — toward relocating Amtrak service there from the present station, with the regional council's adoption following in October 2026. No construction and no service date stands in the record; Amtrak's trains still use the station the Trains section documents, whose fiscal 2025 ridership was 18,677.

The East Race, closed for its updates: The East Race Waterway — the artificial whitewater course in the river downtown — sat out the 2026 season, closed for updates by the visitor bureau's own listing, a one-season closure of a standing attraction rather than an ending; the Famous Locations section keeps its record, and its reopening belongs to the update cycle.

Sources:

1. Beacon Health System — release of 31 August 2026 (the ICU move of late October 2026; remaining floors targeted spring 2027); the Hospitals section of this history (the topping-out of 10 October 2025; the $232 million announcement against the $257 million and $257.7 million reports; the behavioral-health consolidation of 1 December 2026).
2. Potawatomi Zoo — the Big Cat Tracks groundbreaking, 14 August 2025 ($5.5 million; the 2016 master plan's final phase), as carried in the Zoo section.
3. City of South Bend Redevelopment Commission — approval of 13 August 2026 ($1 million, the three viaducts); South Bend Tribune, 17 August 2026; the Downtown South Bend 2045 Plan.
4. City of South Bend Redevelopment Commission — the Union Station purchase, 23 July 2024 ($2.43 million); Federal Railroad Administration award, 19 August 2026 ($3.85 million of a $4.81 million phase); MACOG adoption, October 2026; the Trains section of this history (fiscal 2025 ridership, 18,677).
5. Visit South Bend Mishawaka — the East Race listing for the 2026 season (closed for updates), as carried in the Famous Locations section.