A patch of open green space along the Illinois River between the Murray Baker Bridge and the Peoria RiverPlex is officially on track to become the site of an outdoor amphitheater.
The Peoria City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to formally accept an $11 million donation from the Hengst Foundation for the creation of the performing arts venue, featuring an open-air stage area with a design modeled after the structure of the bridge.
“Iconic I think, is not an understatement in any way at all,” said council member Tim Riggenbach, whose Third District will be home to the amphitheater. “This just hits all the points that many of the constituents of ours have been talking about, and we’ll be excited to see this be fine-tuned, but the ‘iconicness’ of this just really speaks to me.”
Moving forward with the amphitheater project was just one of several noteworthy actions taken during an extremely busy, almost four-hour final meeting of the calendar year before a full gallery in the council chambers.
Among the other business, the council also unanimously approved emergency funding of up to $300,000 for the New Hope Apartments in response to multiple intentionally set fires that permanently damaged the building’s fire alarm system.
“It’s a band aid to a very severe wound, but what we don’t want to have happen is [seeing] individuals find themselves unhoused as we enter the coldest part of the winter coming up,” said council member Andre Allen.
Amphitheater project
Members expressed enthusiastic support for the Hengst amphitheater plans in September when the council initially approved acceptance of a non-binding letter of intent for a restricted donation to fund a public-private partnership for the entertainment complex.
A presentation on the preliminary designs from representatives of Terra Engineering and Epstein Global during Tuesday’s meeting elicited similar reactions.
“I’m impressed. I mean, it just looks amazing,” said Mayor Rita Ali. “I love the elements of the bridge incorporated into the design of the stage. I mean, it just looks like an art sculpture and, yeah, it’s very beautiful.”
The facility is expected to be named the Dee Amphitheater, in honor of foundation founder Jim Hengst’s late wife. It would have a capacity of 5,000, through a combination of removable seats and lawn seating space.
The performance venue is expected to include a riverside band shell facing southwest, along with festival grounds, concessions areas, a multipurpose lot, support facilities and additional infrastructure. The amphitheater’s location in the river’s flood plain will require the use of temporary and removable seating.
“Over the past few years, number of years, City of Peoria, the park district, has hosted some very wonderful events on this site, some festivals, cultural events, concert series,” said Terra Engineering’s Keven Graham. “Really that’s kind of what we’re looking to continue with moving forward, but making that part of the fabric of the riverfront that is celebrated and takes it to another level.”
With a requirement for the stage area to have a minimum footprint of 40 feet by 60 feet, the architectural team sought to develop a space with multi-purpose functionality that could be used throughout the year – with the picturesque bridge serving as inspiration.
“We were really drawn obviously, by the historic importance of this particular engineering feat,” said Patrick Carata, the architectural design director for Epstein. “But we also drew some inspiration as far as ideas like connectivity, which is something that a bridge brings between communities, which is very important.”
City attorney Patrick Hayes noted that the amphitheater’s location on Riverfront Park land that was originally acquired through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources from the National Parks Service adds complexity to the approval process.
“First we have to get the design approved by the city, because we’re going to be retaining directly the design professionals and the construction entities,” said Hayes. “Then that design has to be preliminarily approved by the Hengst Foundation, because they’re providing the funding for the project. Once that preliminary design has been approved by both the city and the Hengst Foundation, will be submitting it to the National Park Service and the IDNR for approval.
“There might be some adjustments to the plans through that process from the various entities that have a hand in it. But central to the agreement that the city struck is, we’ll be directly retaining and contracting with those design professionals and construction entities, because at the end of the entire project, this amenity will be owned by the City of Peoria.”
The Hengst Foundation pivoted to the Peoria Riverfront location for its amphitheater after abandoning its pursuit of a similar project in Washington.
“What a great gift that the city has just received, I believe,” said former Washington Mayor Gary Manier, who spoke on Jim Hengst’s behalf.
New Hope emergency funding
Downtown Peoria’s New Hope permanent supportive housing residence, operated in part by Phoenix Community Development Services, needs the emergency funding to prevent a potential closure of the facility, with the most recent fire last week leaving the fire alarm system inoperable. That’s required the use of fire watch teams on patrol at all times in order to prevent displacement of the current tenants.
“We’ve been kind of troubleshooting day by day things that have come up at that building,” said Community Development Director Joe Dulin, noting the building is currently uninsured and the latest fire left 34 apartments unfit for habitation.
That’s forced 22 tenants to stay in the auditorium as the American Red Cross of Illinois provides temporary assistance. But Dulin said the Red Cross will leave the New Hope facility on Dec. 18.
“Unfortunately, at that point, we will be at a place where the people in the auditorium are going to be not allowed to be at the building,” he said. “The good news is, at this moment, Pathway Ministries and Dream Center both have capacity to handle those 22 people. So they will have a place to go in a shelter, if they choose to do so.”
Phoenix has been operating the New Hope at a deficit as federal rental subsidies have failed to keep up with the area’s fair market rents. Expenses such as utilities, insurance, pest control, and around the clock staffing of the front desk have left Phoenix unable to pay for major repairs, including a roof replacement, cooling towers and new water heaters.
Officially, the council’s action gives the city manager the authority to provide Phoenix funding in an amount not to exceed $300,000 to minimize the negative impacts at New Hope as much as possible.
The $300,000 comes from the city's remaining American Rescue Plan Act [ARPA] balance of $523,000. Dulin said it will cost about $225,000 to pay for security guards and the 24-7 fire watch teams through the end of February.
“That’ll leave us about $75,000 of that $300,000 to have some further assistance for the tenants that we will be looking to relocating and find different housing,” he said.
