The East Peoria City Council approved a $50,000 loan to help a local accounting firm expand. The loan is for CLA Services to move into a building in the city’s Four Corners District. City Planning Director Ty Livingston says the loan can help pay for physical improvements that match the district:
“This look of kind of what we have in the Levee District here, looking for some of those stone façade accents, some native landscaping, that sort of thing. So in the process of rehabilitating the building that they indicated is needed, this is going to provide that additional enhancement and really start developing this corridor,” Livingston says.
The building is near the former public library location near Main Street. East Peoria is also joining other communities in re-applying to keep its Enterprise Zone status before it expires in 2016. The city is paying a consultant $25,000 to help craft an application for state approval. The zones give communities tax abatements for construction projects to help boost development.