News
The Future is Arriving Soon
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 01 November 2012 10:58
- Written by Bill Liesse
New stores, hotel and office buildings nearly ready to open, in Downtown East Peoria
Perhaps giddy over the rapid retail expansion well under way in East Peoria, area residents fantasized about perhaps the only retailer with stores bigger than those of Bass Pro Shops and Costco.
Alas, the rumors are false. IKEA has no plans to build in East Peoria.
"I'm not aware of the rumors and I'm not aware of any plans," said Joseph Roth, the expansion spokesman for the Swedish home-products giant. "We typically need 20 to 30 acres that we purchase. More importantly, we typically need a metropolitan area of 2 million-plus, and I don't think the Peoria area fits that criterion."
Be that as it may, East Peoria officials are left feeling anything but blue. With at least seven construction projects currently under way in the city's "new downtown," East Peoria still anticipates the opening of Costco, first among the new retailers, on Nov. 14.
The wildly successful wholesale giant will occupy the southwest corner of the new 86-acre development, along Richland Street. As the crow flies, Costco basically sits behind what has served as downtown East Peoria, a strip mall along Main Street anchored by Aldi and fronted by City Hall.
The other main anchor of the new development, Target, is aiming for a late-spring opening, as are the next-largest stores, Gordman's and ULTA. The latter, a beauty-products retailer with an outlet at Peoria's Westlake Shopping Center, will lease an 11,000-square-foot space adjacent to Target in East Peoria. Gordman's will occupy 50,000 square feet near the southeast corner of the overall development.
Two 25,000-foot retail spaces between Target and Gordman's are yet to have tenants.
"We continue to beat the bushes for others," East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said.
The mayor is excited about the progress he sees daily.
"Most of the buildings in the first phase are vertical, and you can see the floors," Mingus said.
Hometown Community Bank is building a three-story, 54,000-square-foot branch on the north corner of a roundabout created at the intersection of Washington Street and the new Clocktower Drive. The latter street extends to Camp Street to create new traffic-flow options to the development. A bridge connecting Altorfer Lane to Camp Street will follow.
"People are getting used to the roundabout," Mingus said of a traffic feature roughly akin to the square in Washington's downtown. "There was some confusion for a while."
Much of the traffic on the site currently is that of construction workers, a source of great pride for the mayor.
"We are getting high, high thanks from organized labor," Mingus said. "It's been a real boost for our area. Over 300 people take a check home each week. I think that's the thing I'm most proud of.
"It'll be a good Christmas for a lot of people who otherwise might not have had it."
Also being built this fall is a new branch of the Fondulac District Library, extending from Richland to Washington streets on a triangular piece of land that calls for a future City Hall (attached to the library) and a future Caterpillar museum (at the roundabout).
"The library is making good progress," Mingus said of the 32,000-square-foot building.
The fourth "corner" of the roundabout will be filled by a 137-room Holiday Inn conference center, also well under way and slated to open in the early spring of 2013. The hotel is closest to Cedar Street bridge.
Going counterclockwise, the direction of traffic, will be the Cat museum, the Target property (with a restaurant tenant being sought for the front of the parking lot, close to the roundabout), and Hometown bank.
When Phase 1 is complete, probably mid-summer next year, 15 to 20 acres will remain uncommitted, divided among three parcels.
The development has not yet been given a formal name.
Mingus calls the overall development area closer to 88 acres than the published 86 acres. The mayor points out that nine acres remain available for use near Bass Pro Shops, across Interstate 74, and reminds that the city has secured a deal for a new hotel between Embassy Suites and Granite City brewery and restaurant.
As for IKEA? Mingus isn't giving up on that one yet, either.
"That'd be great if we could land that," he said, adding he'd show IKEA his town's Bass Pro, Target and Costco to combat the 2 million-resident requirement. "I'm going to bug them. I'm not done with that yet."
