Developers can build an $18.5 million housing development at the former Coachman Motel property, with the Bloomington City Council approving the project Monday night after pausing in May to consider a possible labor agreement.
Work is expected to begin this fall on the complex at 402 E. Washington St. that will include razing the City of Refuge Ministries church building. In a few years, 24 upscale townhomes with attached garages and a five-story apartment building with nearly 50 one- and two-bedroom apartments will stand on the property.
“I’m excited about this project. I think you’ve got a group that is very committed to this community,” said City Manager Tim Gleason, adding redeveloping the site in the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district has been a priority. The lot has sat vacant for decades.
Gleason told the public attending Monday’s meeting that while no city rules are in place now for local labor agreements, or prevailing wage expectations on private developments, he expects a conversation to gain momentum among the area’s elected bodies, developers, and labor representatives.
“Peeling back the layers of the onion” on discussions about prevailing wage and affordable housing can get complicated, said Gleason. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council OK’d spending more than $10 million on this year’s phase of the Locust-Colton sewer separation project, and learned applications remain open for small business grants and affordable housing grants funded with COVID-relief dollars.
Laborers fill meeting room to oppose project
A dozen public commenters spoke about the upscale housing development — with two-thirds supporting it. But the four speakers in opposition were joined by orange-shirted laborers who filled the standing room-only crowd at the downtown Government Center.
The project — which brings more than $4 million in tax breaks — first came to council for a vote on May 22. But that vote was delayed after some council members argued the agreement should contain language about using local labor and prevailing wage rates.
Another point of contention is building higher-priced housing at a time the community faces an affordable housing crisis.
These issues continued at the forefront of Monday’s discussion. But in the end, a 5-3 vote found the council supporting the agreement as it stood.
“No” votes came from Ward 6’s Cody Hendricks, Ward 7’s Mollie Ward, and Ward 9’s Tom Crumpler. Kent Lee of Ward 8 was absent Monday.
Most supporting the Washington Street proposal, including Patrick Hoban, who heads the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, said approving developer 402 E. Washington LLC’s plan would take a vacant property not generating tax revenue, and turn it around — while adding much-needed housing to the community.
Hoban said he estimates the community needs about 7,000 more apartments and houses than it currently has available. That’s significantly higher than first thought in a housing study released a year ago.
Some who opposed the development took offense to higher-priced units being developed in Ward 6, while saying many of that ward’s residents likely can't afford them. Others opposed it because they didn’t see the city demonstrating support for local laborers.
“The passion on this topic from both sides — this is exactly how government is supposed to work at the local level,” said Gleason. “It’s good to have these conversations.”
He said Bloomington leaders support having local labor representatives be part of a conversation about boosting apprenticeships, exploring prevailing wage and more.
“Don’t get the impression I’m kicking the can down the road. I’m not,” he told the crowd.
Besides the 75 residential units, the East Washington Street complex will include parking, A church on part of the property, City of Refuge Ministries, will be razed as part of the project.
Developer Andy Kaufmann, of 402 East Washington, LLC, told WGLT after the meeting that a rough estimate calls for work to begin this fall, and residents to occupy buildings within two years. He said the community needs a variety of housing options for different income levels.
The property that once housed the 1960s-era Coachman Motel has sat vacant for decades. “Twenty years have passed, approximately, and we have someone who is willing to invest there,” said Sheila Montney, of Ward 3.
On the flip side, Crumpler said “Let’s do it right. So that workers’ families could benefit the same as the developers” with the creation of such a development.
One union-affiliated group tried unsuccessfully to redevelop the Washington Street property.
The Laborers Home Development Corp. (LHDC) is an affiliate of the Laborers union that does affordable housing projects in underserved communities. LHDC was considering an apartment project at the former Coachman site in early 2018, said LHDC staffer Tim Ryan.
They intended to use theLow Income Housing Tax Credit to build a mix of market-rate and affordable-housing units, Ryan said, adding they couldn’t get the financing to work.
Notably, the state’s Illinois Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program was not up and running as it is today, Ryan said. That would have helped. The property also wasn’t put into a tax district until later, in June 2018, opening up more incentives to a potential developer.Locust-Colton sewer separation project
Also Monday, the council decided that despite rising costs for labor and materials, the Locust-Colton sewer separation project won’t delay work on any portions of phase 4 and 5.
The massive, long-term project separates an out-of-date combined system of sanitary and sewer lines. After the2021 floods in Bloomington, residents pushed for the separation project to pick up speed. So, the council combined several phases to accelerate the work.
In 2023, the city budgeted about $7 million for work on combined phases 4 and 5. Of that figure, about $3.1 million was federal COVID-relief funds.
The combined phase of the Locust-Colton project included a base bid, with three possible additions. The only bid came in at roughly $10.8 million. So, city administrators proposed pushing the three additions to phases 8 and 9 that will be done in a few years.
On Monday, council was asked to OK an $8.5 million contract with Stark Excavating, consisting of the base bid, and one addition.
But Ward 4’s John Danenberger called for the council to amend that to include all three additions, and its higher $10.8 million price tag. It did so unanimously.
Gleason said administrators were prepared for that amendment, and not surprised with the vote, because of the strong feelings residents have about the combined sewer overflow problem.
“The idea was: If we moved these two portions (back to phases 8 and 9), we could save upwards of a million dollars,” he said, adding such changes wouldn’t have altered the overall Locust-Colton project completion date or the scope of the work.
Socioeconomic grants awarded
Melissa Hon, who heads the city’s economic and community development department, shared an update with the council about how the city is proceeding with its ARPA-funded local grants program.
For its socioeconomic grants to local nonprofits, the city awarded six grants from among seven applicants, she said.
No grant money remains for those groups, said Hon, but the city continues to accept applications for its other two categories: Small business grants, and affordable housing grants.
So far, Bloomington has awarded two small business grants — one for $45,000 and the other for $26,000. More than $1 million remains to be distributed in this area, she said. Eligible businesses must be in downtown, or to the south and west of it. A map showing where eligible businesses must be is on the city’s website, she said.
As for the city’s ARPA-funded affordable housing grants, households earning up to about $88,000 can apply, she said.
Other eligibility guidelines are available on the city’s website, she said, including geographic limitations to the regeneration area west of downtown. So far, nearly 20 households have explored the possibility. Of those eligible, eight applications have been submitted. But no awards have been granted yet.
In other business, the council approved:
- A $220,000 contract with Cloudpoint Geographics Inc. for information technology department software.
- Spending about $400,000 on public works department equipment, including a chassis and lift from Versalift, and a wheel loader from Roland Machinery.
- An ordinance authorizing the city to spend funds received through the national opioid class action lawsuits. So far, Bloomington has received about 10% of the estimated $900,000 it expects to get over two decades.
Ryan Denham contributed to this story.
