South Bend allows former Knute Rockne home to move this May, while legal questions remain

SOUTH BEND — The house that Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne lived in for most of his renowned 13-year tenure leading the Fighting Irish will move to a new site this May.

South Bend's Board of Public Works on Tuesday approved an agreement that allows Wolfe House Movers of Indiana to move Rockne's first home in South Bend, at 1006 St. Vincent St. near Eddy Street Commons, a half-mile west to a vacant lot on Foster Street. After the move, a nonprofit called Habitat for Missions will renovate and sell the home to raise money for Covenant Christian School in Mishawaka.

The house will move west down St. Vincent Street the morning of May 9 to a vacant lot at 1105 N. Foster St. The company will close down St. Vincent block by block between Frances and Foster streets and post no-parking signs in advance. The home will ride on hydraulic dollies, making for a vehicle that's 38 feet long, 31 feet wide and 36 feet tall.

An agreement between the city and Wolfe House Movers holds the company liable for any damage to streetlights, curbs, sidewalks, signage and other property along the route. And the movers must hire a certified arborist to approve any tree trimming with South Bend's city forester, a crucial provision after neighbors raised the alarm last year when a different company, lacking the required permits, severely cut trees along the same route.

Multiple neighbors and Board of Public Works members said they were concerned about passing an agreement when city attorneys have yet to secure a settlement for damages with Habitat for Missions and the company that illegally cut the trees, Granger-based Heartwood Tree Care. The resolution was tabled to Tuesday's meeting after an initial hearing two weeks ago.

The city has made a demand for damages after hiring a private urban forestry expert to provide an appraisal of the battered canopy, but Habitat for Missions and Heartwood must still respond. City attorney Michael Schmidt said the city would sue for damages as a last resort.

Steve Smith of Irish Realty, who's a board member of Habitat for Missions, said there are only three more properties where trees must be trimmed to make way for the home. A new company, Higher Ground Tree Care, will work alongside the city's forestry department and cut limbs only as needed.

Of the settlement, he told The Tribune "we are eager to participate in that and help get that situation corrected, but it's a slow burn."

Smith said he expects the Rockne home, once moved to the Foster Street site, to sell for at least $600,000 in a neighborhood south of Notre Dame's campus where land prices have soared. With renovations, the roughly 3,000-square-foot home will feature five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a new modern basement. The makeover will also include a new garage and a new front porch.

Rockne and his family lived in the St. Vincent Street home from 1920 to 1929. In the 13 years he coached Notre Dame from 1918 to 1930, he led the team to 105 wins and only 12 losses.

Greystone Developers LLC, a real estate firm whose registered agent is Granger developer Patrick Matthews, bought the home and the associated St. Vincent property for $850,000 in May 2023 — more than two times the value of the site three years prior. Greystone seeks to build four single-family residential units on the lot, according to a proposal heard by the South Bend Plan Commission last year. The firm donated the old home itself to Habitat for Missions.

Email city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Rockne's first South Bend home to move, tree damage still unsettled