Peoria Mayor Rita Ali remains steadfast in her belief that the planned Phoenix Manor permanent supportive housing development on the South Side ultimately will benefit the neighborhood.
“One, it adds more population, more housing to the area, which is in desperate need of housing,” Ali said in her latest regular one-on-one interview with WCBU. “We need more density there.
“We’ve seen a loss of housing in that area and really all of the South Side over the past couple of decades, probably really three decades, just because we lack quality affordable housing in that area.”
Last week, the Peoria City Council gave initial approval for the $29 million, 48-unit residential complex for families currently experiencing homelessness at the site of the demolished Harrison School on Krause Avenue.
It’s a partnership between Phoenix Community Development Services and OSF HealthCare that intends to operate a community health clinic at the site.
“Many of the individuals will have come originally from the South Side of Peoria, and again, people leave that area because they we don’t have sufficient housing there,” said Ali. “We need to replenish housing there so that we can sustain the grocery stores, the retail shops, the pharmacies who have all left there because of a lack of population.”
First District council member Denise Jackson has been very vocal in her opposition to the project, suggesting it’s not the right economic fit for an already impoverished area, and the current infrastructure won’t be able to support it.
“She’s an ally of mine; we work together very well. We’ve worked hard for the South Side of Peoria, and we just disagree on this point,” said Ali, adding the groups involved with Phoenix Manor plan to work toward helping the tenants develop skills and find employment opportunities.
“‘NIMBY-ism’ is not something that’s in my DNA, and that’s anywhere in the City of Peoria. ‘Not in my backyard’ doesn’t fit well, and I just think that this is a type of project that gives an opportunity and hope to people, and again serves our greater purpose of repopulating the South Side so that we can sustain the grocery and the pharmacy and the retail.”
Ali said revitalizing all of the South Side remains a top priority for the city, pointing to other residential projects such as the 47-unit Churchview Garden Homes affordable housing development and the upcoming construction of the MacArthur Senior Flats for residents 55 and older.
“We have a South Side Revitalization Plan that was approved by the Illinois Housing Development Authority [IHDA],” said Ali. “It calls for more affordable housing in the area. It calls for getting housing, improving the infrastructure. It calls for attracting more commercial development, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“This plan was developed with stakeholders, with residents, with neighborhood organizations, with community-based organizations that are based right in the South Side of Peoria. So the plan was developed in with inclusion of the people who actually live there.”
Reviving Main Street
Ali also touted the city’s efforts to revitalize Main Street, with developers recently gaining approval for upgrading the 500 block with three eateries and a boutique hotel on that side of the historic Madison Theatre building — hoping to spur a possible rebirth of the theater itself.
“The fact that we’re bring a bringing a part of that historic facility to life again with the restaurants, I think is wonderful," said Ali." I know that the intention is to include the theater itself at some point, but that’s going to take a lot of fundraising and some people championing that effort.
“But I think it’s part of our great bigger plan to make Main Street ‘Main Street’ again, to give it life again, to take those empty and vacant buildings and to get them occupied, from Water Street all the way to Farmington Road.”
Ali said Peoria is still waiting to receive pledged money from the state for infrastructure improvements along Main Street.
“We’ve been meeting with our legislators, we’ve been meeting with our lobbyists, we’ve been meeting with our team here at City Hall, and just trying to find ways and strategies to get that money released, so that we can really put our roots down in terms of that infrastructure development,” she said.
Peoria is in the process of creating a West Main Street tax increment financing district [TIF] to bolster growth and economic investment along the corridor.
“It will support, of course, the extended Bradley campus in terms of retail and housing, and I’m excited about that,” she said. “Again, it’s not just the Central Business District and not just the waterfront area. It’s all the way from Water Street to Farmington Road, which includes Bradley University.”
Regarding the Peoria riverfront, Ali said developers of the Dee Hengst Amphitheater north of the Murray Baker Bridge are getting input from “a well-known architect” who is working with the existing team to make enhancements to the plans.
“I think some little tweaks will be made, but we’re still looking at breaking ground in 2027, and shortly thereafter actually having some concerts there,” said Ali, adding the project is likely to exceed the $11 million gift from the Hengst Foundation and other organizations may contribute to cover the additional costs.
Likewise, she said fundraising efforts will be pursued to cover the estimated $26 million total needed for the proposed riverfront upgrades as the city awaits $15 million in state funding dedicated for that project.
“We’re going to bring new life to our riverfront, and we’re trying to work to get some of that money or all of that money released in the near future,” she said.
Industrial park, data center
Ali said development of an industrial park near Galena Road on the city’s northeast side would be a shot in the arm for the region’s economy.
“I think that it will attract tax-paying industries, and these are the kind of industries that typically take up a lot of space,” she said. “They’re the type of industries that make products, that manufacture things that need warehouse space.
“Attracting this type of business to this area will help us financially and hopefully provide a great space for a company to grow and build its future right here in Peoria.”
One type of project Ali said is not likely to occur in Peoria is development of a large-scale data center.
“Most of that input comes from working with the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council; they’ve kind of been our part of our economic arm for attracting new businesses,” said Ali. “There’s these site-seekers that seek locations for data centers, and over time there has been some interest in Peoria, but we just have not had the [electrical grid] capacity.
“It’s a very politically charged issue with data centers, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be entertaining data centers in Peoria anytime soon.”
