The Normal Town Council approved an agreement with Joliet-based Carlson Bros. Monday night for a pair of six-story buildings for the Trail East and Trail West project on Uptown Circle.
The proposal calls for a $35 million, 203,000-square-foot building on the Beaufort Street side of Uptown Circle, as well as a $25 million, 126,000-square-foot building on the North Street side.
The agreement for the combined projects includes a package of financial incentives totaling more than $19 million. It includes proceeds from a new tax increment financing [TIF] district, along with $1.5 million in food and beverage sales tax rebates tied to a restaurant planned for the property and fee waivers.
The project has been a goal of the town for more than 25 years. Council member Kathleen Lorenz said the project constituted the final two pieces of the original “Uptown plan.”
“I guess in this time we can say ‘all in good time,’” said City Manager Pam Reece. Council member Andy Byars agreed, calling the investment “historic.”
Carlson Bros. Vice President Mark Carlson has told WGLT the project could be completed by 2029.
Before the unanimous vote, council members raised questions about parking, and whether lower-income housing had been considered as part of the project. Rents for the project's approximately 200 apartments range will from $1,276 for a studio to nearly $2,500 for a two-bedroom apartment.
For parking, there won’t be enough spots for every resident, but Reese said that’s “typical,” and additional vehicles often use parking garage space. The project also eliminates free surface parking serving Uptown.
Byers noted that housing is a higher priority than adding parking.
“Parking lots are not the best use of this land,” he said.
As far as affordability, Reese noted the town is short on housing across the affordability spectrum, and that this project has always been aimed at “market rate” housing. Lower-end, or “income qualified” housing creates financing and tax credit hurdles, she said.
“The model just does not work for a building like this,” Carlson said. “The costs are just far too high and the rent that would come in with those income restrictions would just never satisfy what would need to be rented for to meet that requirement.”
'Development wounds'
Lorenz noted the council has “a few development agreement wounds” from past projects. She asked about remedies if other difficulties threatens to stall development.
Assistant City Manager Brian Day said remedies were built into the contract including money that would come back to the city.
Lorenz asked whether retail space might sit empty similar to what happened “across the street” in the storefront now occupied by a Mexican restaurant. Day noted the structure of the deal with rebates incentivizes Carlson to find a tenant. Previously, he said, revenue from rent for other properties was enough that occupying the restaurant wasn’t a priority.
“So we’re not replicating that situation,” Lorenz said.
Mayor Chris Koos said a study of Minneapolis that he’d seen at the U.S. Conference of Mayors showed that developments like this don’t just help with higher-end housing, adding such developments free up lower tiers as people move in and the availability cascades downward.
“Increasing the entire housing market is what’s really going to help us a lot in the low-income area or affordable,” he said.
