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Redevelopment In Works For Former Dealership Lot

The long-vacant property at a busy Peoria intersection might have a combination of retail and residential buildings in the not-too-distant future.

According to developer Katie Kim of The Kim Group, plans are progressing for development of the former Jim McComb Chevrolet site at the corner of War Memorial Drive and University Street.

“We’re working with the owners of the property right now to redevelop the roughly five acres that are right there at that southeast corner,” said Kim. “We have a financial institution that has the 1.6 acres right at the corner under contract.”

Kim said that the original hope was to have a single entity purchase and develop the entire site, but dividing the property has emerged as the desired scenario.

“What we’re looking at right now is doing out-lots within that parcel, just because we’ve had so many people need a smaller size of lands but still be at that desired location,” she said.

Kim said her firm is working with the city of Peoria on getting special-use approval that would “clean up some of the zoning” and allow for a comprehensive approach to developing the land, which eventually could include an apartment complex at the south end and shopping areas or office space to the east.

“As part of the special-use process, you’ve got to kind of outline what you think is going to be there in the plan,” said Kim. “We’ve been talking with a couple interested buyers that would be interested in some retail right along War Memorial. So they would be either two 5,000-square foot buildings like strip centers with drive-throughs on either end, or it could be one 10,000-square foot medical building, for example. So those are a couple of entities that we’re talking to there.

“Then on the back side, we do have an apartment group that has shown interest in doing a 40-unit apartment building back there to be four floors – and it would be market-rate apartments – and that would be toward the back of the development.”

One of the remaining hurdles relates to traffic access on the south end. Previously, vehicles leaving the property from the access road behind the Walgreens could only make right turns onto westbound Florence Avenue. Kim said the owners of the proposed banking center want that changed.

“What we’re asking is to have that ‘right only’ restriction removed so that they could go left,” said Kim. “I would say my gut feel is probably 90-95% of the traffic is either going to go out the University entrance-exit on that end of the parcel, or they’re going to go out on the Florence and go right to get on University, to be able to get onto a main drag as quick as possible.

“But that is a request from the financial institution to have that restriction removed.”

Kim also provided an update on Keller Station, the Knoxville Avenue development that The Kim Group runs through a public-private partnership with the Peoria Park District.

“We're finishing out construction on the second floor of what we're calling building one, which is the two-story building there,” said Kim. “We just launched our floor plan for micro suites over there, where businesses can rent out an office space and have access to the wellness lounge up there, as well as some common services and be able to get a prime location on Knoxville for their business. Those have seen a lot of demand.”

Kim said they’re also getting into construction for an indoor market that will feature pods for restaurants and small businesses, with an April-May target for completion. Weather permitting, construction is slated to begin this winter on additional buildings intended for retail, office space and more.

“A new element there is a residential component; we’re looking to have more information in early 2021 and be able to start putting that out to market,” she said. “There's actually a couple different components that we're working with the park district on, and the first phase would be rental apartments on campus that would look out on to Donovan Park. We're pretty excited about it.”

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Copyright 2021 WCBU. To see more, visit WCBU.

Courtesy The Kim Group /

Joe Deacon is a reporter at WCBU.