The City of Bloomington will explore development possibilities for land on the northeast edge of Downtown, after acquiring the former Electrolux and Mennonite Hospital site through a land exchange with Illinois Wesleyan University.
The swap gives Bloomington about three acres with frontage across the entire 800 block of North Main Street, while IWU will possess the back portion of the square block.
“We’d be looking to have a mix of residential, maybe a little bit of commercial in there, but we have several developers that are already interested,” City Manager Jeff Jurgens said during Monday’s Bloomington City Council meeting.
“With the property lines redrawn this way, we’re going to go back to them, have them submit revised proposals, and then we will have a group rank their proposals and then bring those forward.”
The council voted unanimously with one abstention — Mollie Ward — to approve the deal, with the city receiving the former hospital’s vacant long-term care and dorm buildings covering slightly less than one acre at the northeast corner of Main and Chestnut streets opposite Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
In return, IWU gains control of a nearly 3/4-acre portion of a parking area directly to the east, just south of the intersection of Walnut and East streets. No money will change hands in the trade, with the city’s only financial impact coming in closing and title costs.
Cody Hendricks was the only council member to comment on the deal, expressing appreciation for the city staff moving the agreement forward.
“Ever since I’ve gotten elected, and I know before me, this has been a long conversation, and I think it took the right people at the table to make that happen,” said Hendricks.
Bloomington and IWU had been “co-marketing” the area in the 800 block of Main Street, which is included in the city’s Downtown Tax Increment Financing [TIF] District established in 2024. Although the area had received some redevelopment interest, the co-marketing aspect prevented any projects from moving forward.
“This project has gone back many, many, many years,” said Jurgens. “It’s gone through a variety of iterations over the years, and with different changes in leadership and different changes just within the community, we went back to the drawing board more recently to discuss this.”
The staff memo to city council members regarding the exchange indicates the city has had “multiple conversations with interested developers” in anticipation of a future redevelopment proposal that is expected to include having the existing buildings demolished.
“We would just be really excited to work with whichever developer scores the highest in in the rubric. We’ve got a really great scoring pattern set up so that we get the best possible use of the land and the person who’s the most financially viable for our project,” said Samantha Mlot, the city’s economic development advocate.
Other business
All other business for consideration during Monday’s brisk 40-minute meeting was included on a 22-item consent agenda. Among the approved actions were:
- A contract of slightly more than $2 million with George Gildner, Inc., for water department utility maintenance, along with a separate $313,000 contract for plumbing maintenance at the water department premises;
- A $1.5 million agreement with Stewart Spreading, Inc., to remove lime sludge at the water treatment plant lagoons;
- Amending the budget to reflect an increase from $1.12 million to $1.2 million in an agreement with UEP Bloomington LLC for redevelopment of the former State Farm tower Downtown;
- Spending $737,000 on an agreement with Donelson Construction for high-pressure slurry seal pavement preservation work for the 2027 fiscal year, and another $140,000 with Corrective Asphalt Materials LLC for Reclamite pavement work;
- A cost-sharing agreement with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly for $120,000 in sewer remediation tied to the Downtown streetscape project;
- Accepting the final plat for re-division of the Vale Commons Subdivision on Ireland Grove Road; and
- A three-year collective bargaining agreement with International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 701.
Three mayoral proclamations recognized Emergency Management Services Week, Building Safety Month, and 11 appointments to various city boards and commissions.
