New CEO Council director says Peoria is 'on the right path'
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- Published on Wednesday, 02 April 2014 14:46
- Written by Paul Gordon
Jim Lynch is excited about the direction downtown development is headed but acknowledges there are challenges to be met to realize the vision that exists today.
As the new executive director of the Peoria CEO Council, which is under the umbrella of the Greater Peoria Business Alliance, he will be the driver of that bus and he is ready to go.
"There are several big players who want this to happen and my hope, my belief is that the CEO Council can be the voice of private business as we drive this plan forward," said Lynch, who was promoted from vice president of the organization to executive director on March 24.
"Peoria has a lot of great things going right now and in one way or another they are connected. Our success will be contingent on how well we in the private and public sectors continue to collaborate, if we can keep the lines of communication open. That will mean we have to leave pride and egos at the door," he said during an interview at his downtown office.
Lynch is a transplant from Chicago but came here with some familiarity to central Illinois. He graduated from Knox College in Galesburg and visited Peoria often enough to know what it had to offer a young and growing family. Lynch and his wife chose Peoria for that reason; they didn't end up here because of a job.
"We were looking for a medium-sized community to raise our family and we've been here 5½ years. We've met some really great people, we know what the community has to offer and we really enjoy being here," he said.
So much so, he added, that his ultimate goal in his job is that "my children, after they grow up, never want to leave here. I think Peoria can be that place."
Lynch's marching orders as executive director including continuing to work on projects he'd already started. One, in fact, is completed already and that is the formation of the Downtown Development Corp., the group that wants to be the private sector arm of for linking what is done (Museum Square, the new Pere Marquette-Marriott project, Civic Center) with the vision of the future, which is the Warehouse District.
The Downtown Development Corp. now is working to secure funding, is forming its board of directors from among several private and public entities, and preparing to find a full-time director who can be the downtown cheerleader who will find developers for the various projects and liaise with government agencies.
Lynch said the Warehouse District plans are growing in importance not just because it will revitalize an older part of the city and be trendy, but because that type of development has been identified as a key to attracting young professionals to an area.
"We still need to attract young professionals. We have a wonderful group of young professionals here but we need to attract more and continue attracting them into the future. And according to study after study, young professionals want the kind of urban lifestyle that is envisioned in the Warehouse District," he said. "We need to create that kind of environment."
An urban lifestyle, he added, would put living, working and playing within walking distance of each other. With loft type apartments in downtown, including the Warehouse District, residents would be just blocks from home to downtown offices to downtown restaurants and bars to downtown entertainment, such as the Civic Center and Dozer Park.
Already, Lynch said, developers can see the city's commitment to the project because of the infrastructure work now underway. "It shows the city is serious, that Peoria means business. We have some pioneers to downtown redevelopment who aren't waiting for the infrastructure work to be done and that is great. It is getting things started and lead to further development," he said.
He named several of those pioneers, including Pat Sullivan, Joe Richey and Travis Mohlenbrink.
Aside from the Warehouse District, Lynch also is charged with developing the 2014 Business Development Scorecard and the CEO Council Education Committee. Education, he said, is increasing in its importance to overall development.
"Several organizations talk about education; we have it as part of our strategic plan. We want to act of a collaborator and help determine how to improve education in greater Peoria. We are deciding on our focus going forward, but it is important and it deserves more discussion," he said.
It's important, he added, to realize these things will not happen overnight. "But I am confident they will happen and that there is going to be a lot of excitement for Peoria to share. I believe Peoria can become a top market in the Midwest. We have great leadership in the private and public sectors now and I personally owe a large amount of gratitude to the work of my predecessors. I learned a great deal from them," Lynch said.
He specifically named Jim McConoughey, who left after 10 years as president of the Heartland Partnership, the predecessor to the Greater Peoria Business Alliance. McConoughey hired Lynch for the Partnership two years ago to be the chief fundraiser for the organization's "Excelerate" campaign.
The overall strategic plan, including setting goals for the next five to 10 years for the CEO Council and its priority projects, is still being written, Lynch said.
"We are driven by our membership and with everything that has already been done or that is happening now, I'd say we are on the right path to having the vibrant downtown we want," he said.
