A plan to revitalize some long-vacant properties on the south end of downtown Bloomington gained unanimous approval from the city council, albeit with some reservations about the amount of surface parking it will create.
“We agree that surface parking is not the highest and best use; we do not want this to be surface parking for very long at all,” City Manager Jeff Jurgens said during Monday’s abridged council meeting. “Even the developers don't want it to be surface parking.”
The redevelopment project calls for the historic former Commerce Bank Building on the corner of Center and Washington to be donated to the city for a future residential development. Under an agreement with Consolidated Properties, the city will pay about $20,000 to cover some property tax.
A separate, second piece of the plan will see the demolition of the adjacent Front N Center and DUI Countermeasures buildings, along with the former Elks building to the west of Madison Street, to clear room for about 140 surface parking spaces.
“We’ve tried to cut this so many different ways that we ultimately landed on, unless we were just going to throw multi-millions of dollars at this, that this was the best next step to finally get site control of this property, to get it cleared and to be able to move to the next step,” said Jurgens.
Bloomington will pay Catalyst Construction $3.93 million to facilitate the demolition of the three properties, with ownership transferring to the city once that’s completed. A portion of the Elks property will be preserved for its historical significance.
The agreement includes the city dropping pending legal action against the buildings' former owners — not Catalyst — and waiving any associated fines.
“I realize not everybody is going to think that it's a perfect solution, but I think it's an opportunity for us to move forward,” said Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe. “I think it's important to remember that all of this is happening because of the downtown streetscape plan that we put together, which has encouraged quite a few people to consider investing in our downtown.”
According to the agenda item, Bloomington is actively working with potential developers to use tax credits in transforming the former Commerce Bank building into housing.
“The developer that we're currently talking to, to make the project feasible, they're actually going to need more space on this property to add more housing units,” said Jurgens. “So it's very possible that we'll come back with an amendment at some point, and not all of this will even be developed as surface parking.
“Now, it depends on how long it takes to work some of that out; the developers using tax credits, and that takes time. But we are not going to stop trying to market this property and try to get something going, but we’ve got to have site control.”
In response to a question from council member Sheila Montney, Jurgens said the city does intend to monetize the surface parking spaces after the buildings are demolished.
“We'll eventually, potentially have gates and similar to all of our parking passes for other parking locations in the downtown,” said Jurgens, adding the city could have increased single-session parking rates for events at nearby Grossinger Motors Arena. “So absolutely, we will have a revenue stream from the parking as long as it is parking.”
Three of the four residents speaking during public comments urged the council to consider alternatives to the proposal.
“I do think we are doing a disservice by automatically going for the wrecking ball and not necessarily examining other options,” said Zach Carlson.
“Our downtown needs to remain a destination, and that cannot happen if more and more of it is flattened for the placelessness of suburban-style parking lots,” added Noah Tang.
Hamilton Road project
Also Monday, the council voted to enter into a joint funding agreement for the $16.5 million construction of Hamilton Road between Bunn Street and Commerce Parkway.
The long-sought project to connect the existing two sections of Hamilton west of Morrissey Drive is using both state and federal funds that will be dispersed through the Illinois Department of Transportation, necessitating the updated agreement to comply with a state law.
“This is a project that has been around for 25 years,” said interim engineering director Jim Karch. “It is a 1.77-mile, multi-phase four-lane road that is the hole in the donut, so to speak. All across the southern portion of Bloomington, this would be the major arterial road that would be 7.2 miles in length, and it also has Constitution Trail, which is again a multi-modal component, important for our community.”
Under the agreement, $5.9 million will be allocated from Surface Transportation Urban Funds. The remainder comes from $7.5 million from the city’s Motor Fuel Tax account for street construction, $2 million in a congressional earmark, and just over $1 million from the water main construction account.
Karch said the council’s action was needed so Bloomington could move the project forward with a bid deadline coming in the next few months. Other key aspects of the project include a new railroad crossing just southwest of Commerce Parkway and removing a dangerous intersection at Morrissey [U.S. 150] and Rhodes Lane, turning the eastern end of Rhodes into a cul-de-sac.
“For a long time, we've wanted to get rid of that,” said Karch. “Anybody who's driven that and tried to make a left turn, the proximity to the railroad and then the making of that left turn on to Route 150 is just unsafe, and we want that gone."
The council previously approved a joint funding agreement for Phase 1 of the project to upgrade Hamilton between Morrissey and the current terminus of the eastern section at Commerce Parkway.
The entire project was originally included in the 2025 budget, but when the work was split into two phases, the second phase is now part of the proposed 2026 budget.
Shortened meeting; water concerns
At the outset of the meeting, council member John Dannenberger moved to shorten the agenda to allow city leaders to attend a vigil for the four people who died Sunday at a residence on North Lee Street.
Dannenberger’s request to move a report from the finance director, and presentations on capital projects in the 2026 fiscal year budget and development of an infrastructure dashboard, to the Committee of the Whole meeting on March 17 was approved unanimously, although Sheila Montney was uneasy about the delay.
“Given the extent to which I have heard from people expressing concern about the condition of our water, waiting three weeks for that conversation is concerning,” she said.
Jurgens said the city is taking steps to address concerns over prolonged water odor and taste issues.
“I just wanted to ensure the council and the community, we take this extremely serious, and we're trying a number of different things,” he said. “One thing that we're doing is we're going to test next week a temporary system that would be a potential solution to it.”
Jurgens said the temporary solution would involve slowing the water flow over the filters and could be in place by next week. He added they’ve been working with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency [IEPA] on a longer-term solution, but it won't be ready until early 2026.
In other business
Among items on the consent agenda, the council approved the following:
- A $494,960 contract with G.A. Rich & Sons for a water main replacement project on PJ Keller Highway, covering a 1,200-foot section of 50-year-old water main at Lake Bloomington;
- Amending the 2025 fiscal year sewer rehabilitation agreement with an additional $226,700 to cover unplanned sewer work;
- Amending the approved utility maintenance project agreement with George Gilder, Inc., to add $193,275 for additional unplanned work;
- Entering an intergovernmental agreement with the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District for wastewater treatment;
- Authorizing a purchase agreement not to exceed $215,000 for carbon dioxide, as well as accepting separate bids to purchase premium powdered activated carbon and sodium hexametaphosphate — all for water treatment purposes;
- Sending $135,536 to purchase new radios for the fire department.
