We Value Bloomington-Normal

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NORMAL -- Limiting sprawl and preserving agricultural or rural areas are important to those participating in a public survey related to the proposed highway on Bloomington-Normal’s east side.

Those goals rank higher than having access to Interstates 55 and 74 but not as high as maintaining residential areas.

The results of the survey — also called a context audit — done by Champaign-based engineering firm Clark Dietz were discussed by more than 100 people at a public forum Tuesday at Normal Community High School. They also discussed projected traffic demands in the area of the proposed highway.

“This is where we start rolling up our sleeves and really get to work here,” said Jerry Payonk from Clark Dietz. “This is where we look at the context audit and come up with a consensus on the project.”

The results of Tuesday’s discussion will be summarized by engineers and developed into a plan that will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at NCHS, 3900 E. Raab Road.

The 39 priorities Clark Dietz asked participants about were divided into three categories: high, medium and low importance. Those rated by respondents in the high-priority category include limiting sprawl and having residential areas while those deemed to be of lower importance included access to U.S. 51 and Interstate 39 and attracting visitors.

According to the survey, priorities of medium importance include access to Interstates 55 and 74, Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington and the proposed Multi-Modal Transportation Center in Normal.

As part of the data presented at Tuesday’s meeting, participants discussed rough projections for the traffic load on existing roads if the highway is not build.

The intersection of Empire Street and Towanda Barnes Road could see 178 percent growth in traffic by 2035, Payonk said.

In 2005, about 4,350 vehicles a day headed east on Empire Street from the Towanda Barnes Road intersection, Payonk said. That number is projected to jump to 29,148 in the next 30 years.

Payonk said those traffic numbers and those for other intersections in Bloomington and Normal still are being reviewed by the city, town and county.

“One question that we frequently hear is ‘why does planning include growth?’” Payonk said during the presentation of the traffic counts. “Growth continues to occur in Bloomington-Normal and I think this area has the reputation of being the fastest-growing area in downstate Illinois.”

McLean County contracted with Clark Dietz to conduct the $1.1 million study to determine if and where a highway should be built east of Bloomington-Normal. A federal highway grant covers $800,000 of the cost of the study while the County along with the town of Normal and city of Bloomington are sharing the $300,000 local cost.

The study is conducted under a new model required by the Illinois Department of Transportation called Context Sensitive Solutions and is a process that includes multiple steps requiring public opinion.

According to IAR's June home sales report, the Illinois median home sale price was $215,000, up 1.1 percent from $212,600 one year earlier.

Year-to-date sales were down 15.2 percent to 72,551 homes sold January through June 2007 compared to 85,567 homes sold during the same period last year.

“In Illinois we see home prices holding their own as the housing market transitions back to a normal pace of business and despite widespread reporting of subprime issues and foreclosure rates. Buyers seem to be in a ‘wait-and-see’ mode, yet this is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of a large selection of homes to choose from and interest rates that are even lower than last year at this time,” said IAR President Robert Zoretich.

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NORMAL — The former Shooters buffet is being converted to a strip mall with spaces for seven tenants.

A second phase, expected to start next year, will double that number with a second building.

Co-owner Nick Akis said the first building — the former Shooters, 1700 Parkway Plaza Drive — should be open by mid-September.

Work is underway to bring a new façade and divide the large space into seven tenant spaces. Each will offer between 1,400 and 2,500 square feet each, he said.

Cellular One has a contract to lease one of the spaces, Akis said. He and co-owner John Symeonides are looking for a variety of tenants to fill the other spots.

“In the beginning we had the idea to make it a shopping center,” said Akis. “We like the location. It’s the best location in Bloomington-Normal.”

Akis and Symeonides purchased the former Maverick Family Steak House site in 2004 and remodeled the building for Shooters. Symeonides owns other Shooters restaurants in the Chicago area.

The buffet, which featured more than 80 items, closed in mid-May.

Akis said the planned second building will be to the south of the current structure and mirror it in size and offerings

BLOOMINGTON -- The view along Veterans Parkway is already in the midst of a makeover, with several vacancies providing more opportunity for redevelopment.

"Much of the space will be redeveloped," said Bloomington City Manager Tom Hamilton. "That's just natural."

Consider newer developments like Washington Commons at Veterans and Washington Street, where restaurants replaced an old hotel, Hamilton said, or the 15,800-square-foot strip mall under construction at the site of the former Bombay Bicycle Club, 305 Veterans Parkway. The Shoppes at College Hills replaced the old College Hills mall.

Some of those projects took several years to redevelop, and they're just a start. The Twin Cities' currently have some major vacancies on or near its main thoroughfare:

-- Damon's restaurant at Veterans Parkway and Fort Jesse Road was demolished in January, opening prime real estate at one of the Twin Cities' busiest intersections. The two-acre parcel remains on the market for around $1.75 million to $2.18 million.

-- Shooters Buffet, 1700 Parkway Plaza Drive, near the Wal-Mart off Veterans Parkway, is being transformed into a seven-tenant strip mall.

-- About 11,000 square feet at the Brandtville Center has been empty since The Park restaurant closed more than a year ago.

-- A Paul Mitchell cosmetology school will occupy about 20,000 square feet at the Jewel-Osco building at Veterans and College Avenue, but around 30,000 square feet remains available. The store has been vacant since January 2005.

-- The former K's Merchandise space, 1403 Veterans Parkway, has sat empty since February, and several other storefronts in the Lakewood Plaza strip mall remain vacant as well.

Struggling to attract interest in the space as a whole, New York-based DJM Realty considered subdividing K's and leasing smaller parts, but Wal-Mart Realty, a division of the mega-retail chain, now controls the property, said Lara Rycyk of DJM.

Wal-Mart's Web site lists the 108,000-square-foot property available for lease "as is."

Will "as is" be acceptable to prospective tenants?

In other parts of town, some landowners have been forced to find new uses for massive, outdated retail buildings. Originally built as an outlet mall, the Crossroads Center in west Normal is slowly transforming into a business park with office space and even some light manufacturing, for example. The U.S. Post Office on Towanda Avenue once was an Eagle grocery store.

But unlike those spaces, Veterans Parkway remains a retail hotspot.

"Veterans Parkway is the prime place for retail at this point in time and will stay that way for quite some time," Hamilton said.

BLOOMINGTON -- Verizon is investing at least $590,000 in its downtown Bloomington office, 110 E. Monroe St., as the company prepares to close its Illinois headquarters on East Empire Street, Bloomington.

The company plans to install a new air-conditioning unit and other equipment and prepare office space for employees moving from the East Empire Street building, said spokeswoman Karen Boswell.

The city recently approved a $590,000 permit to Anderson Spencer Co. of Normal for the work.

Verizon sold the East Empire Street building in March for $4.96 million to New York-based GHP Office Realty.

The sale, which included two office buildings and two parking lots on 8.6 acres in Bloomington, was part of a larger deal that included Verizon properties on the East Coast, where GHP does most of its business.

The Bloomington property likely will be resold, GHP officials said.

Coldwell Banker Commercial is listing the main 117,539-square-foot office building for $9 per square foot.

Meanwhile, Verizon employees eventually will move to Verizon offices in Normal and downtown Bloomington, a transformation that could take two years. Verizon signed a two-year lease agreement with GHP to stay in the Empire Street building during the transition.

At the time of the sale, around 140 Verizon employees worked at Empire Street.

Verizon put the building on the market in February 2006 because the company no longer needed the space. General Telephone and Electric, which later became part of Verizon, opened the building in 1958.

I attended the Illinois Coalition of Appraisers (ICAP) update seminar in Springfield, IL yesterday.