What is open

Unresolved as of November 2026

The police tapes: The longest-running open question in the city's government remains open. On 28 May 2026, Judge Jamie C. Woods ruled that the police recordings at the center of the tapes case violated both the federal and state wiretap acts, ordered the tapes destroyed, and barred any use of or reference to them — and the destruction was stayed pending appeal. Council President Lee set an executive session for 3 June 2026 as the case moved to the appeal. The litigation has cost the city's taxpayers more than $3 million, as the City Controversies section documents. The appeal's status past June 2026 could not be verified in the record reached for this build, and prints as such: the case is open, its last verified state the stayed destruction order of May 2026.

Clay High School's $1 law: The fight over the district's closed Clay High School building turned again in the autumn: on 26 October 2026 Judge Telloyan reversed his earlier ruling and held for Career Academy, the charter operator seeking the building under the state's $1 law; on 2 November 2026 the school board voted unanimously to appeal to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The district's programs continue operating at Clay while the case runs. It is open.

Portage Manor's sale: The county's former poor farm and county home, closed on 31 July 2023, is under a sale in due diligence: on 6 October 2026 the county commissioners voted 2–1 to sell Portage Manor to St. Thomas More Academy for $400,000, conditioned on a $9 million investment, with a 180-day due-diligence period running from the vote — the county council having voted 9–0 in May 2026 to solicit proposals. Whether the sale closes belongs to the spring of 2027 and the update cycle.

Tippecanoe Place: The Studebaker mansion's restaurant — opened in 1980 in the National Historic Landmark house — closed in January 2026 after forty-six years, and the mansion stands without a use as this section closes; the South Bend News-Times was still asking "What's Next for Tippecanoe Place?" on 6 April 2026, and the record reached carries no answer yet.

The art museum's clock: The South Bend Museum of Art is on a dated clock: on 27 August 2026 the Civic Center Board voted unanimously to end the museum's Century Center lease, giving it thirty-six months to plan its next steps — with a $1 million Lilly Endowment award of July 2026 in hand and its eightieth year falling in 2027. Where it lands is open; the deadline arithmetic is not.

The Hall of Fame building: The College Football Hall of Fame's downtown building — the hall seated here from 1995 until the museum's removal to Atlanta, its last Enshrinement Festival held in 2012 — stands in the record exactly where the Halls of Fame section left it: vacant in the hands of its post-hall owners under vacant-building abatements, and its present state not established. This section carries the status as UNKNOWN, as that section does, because the documented record ends with the building empty and no later published state was found. The hall itself, and the city's people in the national halls, stand enumerated in the Halls of Fame section; the South Bend Community Hall of Fame, the city's own, held its 39th banquet in October 2026.

Sources:

1. The City Controversies section of this history — Judge Woods's ruling of 28 May 2026 and the stay; the council's 3 June 2026 executive session; the litigation's cost past $3 million; the Clay rulings of 26 October and the board's unanimous appeal vote of 2 November 2026.
2. The Charities section of this history — the Portage Manor record (the 31 July 2023 closure; the council's 9–0 vote of May 2026; the commissioners' 2–1 vote of 6 October 2026, $400,000, the $9 million condition, the 180-day diligence).
3. The Architecture section of this history — Tippecanoe Place (the restaurant's January 2026 closing; South Bend News-Times, 6 April 2026).
4. The Museums section of this history — the Civic Center Board vote of 27 August 2026 and the 36 months; the Lilly Endowment award of July 2026.
5. The Halls of Fame section of this history — the Hall building's documented record ending vacant, and its status carried as unknown; the Community Hall of Fame's 39th banquet, October 2026.