The Bloomington Planning Commission will take up a proposal next week for a 51-unit apartment project on the site of the old Coachman Motel at Washington and Gridley Streets downtown.
The Laborers Home Development Corporation (LHDC) has asked for a variance to reduce the amount of required parking.
The corporation is a not-for-profit affiliate of the Laborers’ International Union Midwest Region. It develops affordable housing in underserved communities. Laborers Home Development had previously sought to redevelop the Fairview building in Normal into senior housing, though that effort did not gain state tax credits needed to help finance the project. The corporation has also shown interest in building units in Uptown South.
LHDC has 13 projects in several Illinois and Iowa cities including Jacksonville, East Peoria, Carmi, Olney, Paris, McLeansboro, and Centralia. LHDC runs a total of 904 units. 606 of them are for families, 202 for independent seniors, and 76 units of supportive housing for seniors that need assistance.
The downtown Bloomington property totals more than 1.5 acres and includes a church and vacant city-owned ground that formerly held the motel. The Historic Preservation Commission approved demolition of the existing structure at 401 East Jefferson last July. The Lafayette Apartments are just to the east of the Coachman property.
A previous proposal for an upscale townhome development at the location failed to advance last year in a climate of rising interest rates and developer concern over the amount of city economic development incentives complicated the financing package. The LHDC had also tried to develop the site in 2018, but like the Fairview project, scarce state tax credits were not available.
