Uptown Normal

Rising interest rates have blocked the hoped-for start of construction this spring on a flagship development project in Uptown Normal.

A group of Bloomington-Normal college students is trying once again to bring a grocery store to the Uptown Normal area.

The eight-acre area bounded by the train tracks, Constitution Trail, Linden Street, and Irving Street is planned as green spaces, multi-use business and housing spaces, and a “large format” space for to-be-undetermined use.

For the first time in three years, the TED-x-Normal speaker series will return this weekend with an in-person event at the Normal Theater in Uptown.

A tent sheltering a team of Rivian recruiters from the sun saw a steady trickle of people inquiring about job opportunities, and poster board signs touted Rivian as a local growing employer.

The Normal Town Council will consider spending close to $561,000 to improve tennis and pickleball courts at Anderson and Underwood parks when it meets Monday evening. Town staff said none of those courts have been resurfaced in two decades with the infrastructure spending taking into account the growing popularity of pickleball.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos would like to see the community develop guidelines for a shovel-ready industrial park, something the Economic Development Council has begun to talk about. But during a WGLT interview on Sound Ideas, he shied away from specifying what the town should provide to make it happen.

Lauran Bryant painted the mural of a gnarled and craggy mulberry tree a dozen years ago when Uptown Normal was torn up and in the middle of a revitalization plan.

The Normal Town Council on Monday will consider a joint funding agreement for the Uptown underpass project. The agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation covers development of a detailed construction design and formalizes part of a grant-supported funding scenario approved by the council in July 2021.

A grocery store in the middle of a “food desert” around Illinois State University, and an emphasis on smaller businesses and buildings, topped public input Thursday night on possible design plans for Uptown South.