The Lofts on Madison gets go-ahead; city council adds labor agreement amendment

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/local/2022/12/21/springfield-city-council-gives-ok-to-new-medical-district-development/69739794007/

The full Springfield City Council Tuesday gave its approval to a $28.3 million proposed development by a New York company at Fifth and Madison streets, but not before adding an amendment ensuring that a Project Labor Agreement has to be negotiated in the future.

The unanimous vote signals the go-ahead for Adirondack Community Development to move forward with its lenders on The Lofts on Madison project.

There was an initial motion to hold the ordinance for two weeks after some council members pointed out that they only received the developer’s agreement at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

An amendment was added about the PLA, but Victor Salerno, the chief executive officer of Adirondack, said he has already had “a number of discussions” with the Central Illinois Building & Construction Trades Council and “we’ve given verbal commitments that we would enter into a PLA.”

“(I was) a little surprised it got added into the legislation, but at the end of the day we were going to enter into one anyway,” Salerno said afterward the meeting. “We’re happy about it. We’re excited to move forward.”

Under a PLA, terms and conditions of employment for specific building projects are negotiated between the developer and unions, including percentages of the local workforce, women, and minorities on the project.

The project would bring 136 “market rate apartments” to downtown Springfield and the Mid-Illinois Medical District.

The landing spot for the complex, 301 N. Fifth St.– the north side of Madison Street between Fourth and Fifth streets — has been a vacant lot for at least the last 50 years, city officials said.

It includes 87 one-bedroom, 30 two-bedroom and 19 three-bedroom units on the upper five floors. Rent would range from $1,100 to $1,450m monthly.

There would be retail space on the first floor and Salerno said again Tuesday “he would love to see a Trader Joe’s” or some other market go into the spot.

The project is unique because the 1.1-acre site will be its own TIF district. Details of the TIF will need to go back to city council for approval.

“This is a self-financed project in the sense that you’re only going to get money from that TIF if the assessed value of that vacant parking lot somehow becomes so much valuable with (a 136-unit development),” pointed out Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin.

School District 186 board member Bill Ringer said Monday that D186 personnel wasn’t contacted about the property going into “a targeted TIF.”

“It’s important to us that we’re going to possibly be giving up a future revenue stream for a very long time,” Ringer said after Monday’s school board meeting. “We educate our kids using property tax money.”

Salerno said lenders are looking closely at interest rates.

The approval moves the project, Salerno said, from “pie in the sky to an actual working path.”

“We’ve been telling them that there’s going to be a TIF and there’s going to be expansion of the enterprise zone, but until there’s legislation passed that says the city is going to do this, there wasn’t much further we could go (with lenders).

“We would like to go lock in our financing as quickly as possible. This is still a very rate-sensitive environment, and all our numbers are predicated on rates not going up that much more.”

Adirondack would put in about $3 million in private equity and independent financing of about $21 million.

The Lofts on Madison would create 40 full-time retail and commercial jobs and 10 full-time employees working on the property side as leasing agents, maintenance supervisors and a community manager.

Mayor Jim Langfelder said he wasn’t surprised about the PLA because it has come up as a talking point with other projects, like Poplar Place.

“What I appreciate now with the city council,” Langfelder said, “is they had the foresight to move forward with the project instead of delaying it because the developer is taking the risk and it’s important that he does get his financing in place before the end of the year.

“Everybody is in agreement that it is going to be a great project of rejuvenation for downtown and the medical district. This was an important step.”

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — The overflow shelter at the Salvation Army building will not open on Friday, Oct. 1 despite officials hoping that it would.

So when can we expect the doors to fully open?

The Heartland Continuum of Care and the Salvation Army, which are in charge of opening and operating the shelter, say there is no exact date but that it all depends on when they can hire and train staff.

Captain Jeff Eddy with the Salvation Army says they will need to hire 12 employees but no one has been hired yet.

The applications aren’t even available and Eddy says he doesn’t know when they will be.

Newschannel 20 and Fox Illinois asked Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder what the backup plan is if they can’t find any staff.

“I will leave it up to the experts, the Heartland Continuum of Care, the Salvation Army,” Mayor Langfelder said.

So that’s what we did. We contacted the Heartland Continuum of Care asking the same question. This was the coordinator’s response.

“I can’t staff, I don’t staff, that’s not my role. Certainly, we will do everything possible to get it done as quickly as possible, that’s what we’re looking to do,” Josh Sabo said.

This has led us to ask Captain Eddy with the Salvation Army if they will have enough time to hire and train workers to open the shelter before it gets cold outside.

In a text, Eddy said, “In previous years, the conversation didn’t start until right now and we got it accomplished.”

Newschannel 20 and Fox Illinois spoke with Ward 5 Alderwoman Lakeisha Purchase.

Purchase says she’s confident the city and these other agencies we’ve been speaking with will be able to open the shelter before it gets cold outside.

The overflow shelter is part of the immediate needs section of the city’s plan to end homelessness.

Source: https://newschannel20.com/news/local/delays-in-opening-springfield-overflow-shelter

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — History is being made in the City of Springfield.

For the first time, three African-Americans and three women are serving on the City Council.

“We have the most diverse City Council that we’ve ever had in the City of Springfield,” Frank McNeil, former alderperson said.

This moment is long overdue according to McNeil who served as one of the first African-American aldermen in 1988.

Allan Woodson also served as the other African American alderman during that time.

McNeil played a huge role in the Voting Rights Act lawsuit against the city in 1985 which changed the way government operates.

“Under section two of the Voting Rights Act, we didn’t feel African-Americans were fairly represented in the City of Springfield,” McNeil said. “In 1985 we filed a lawsuit against the City of Springfield to change the form of government.”

It’s a change that has finally paved the way for others.

“The whole point of filing the lawsuit is to give minorities or women an opportunity to serve and represent constituents of their community,” McNeil explained.

The first woman of color to serve on Springfield City Council was alderwoman Gail Simpson from 2007 to 2015 and then again in 2019.

Thereafter was former alderwoman Doris Turner and now it’s Lakeisha Purchase, who currently represents Ward five.

It’s a point in history that is particularly hitting home for those in the Springfield chapter of the NAACP.

“To have people on the city council who look like me, who understand the impact it has on the community from an equity lens is important,” the president of NAACP Teresa Haley said. “When you have 9 to 10 aldermen and two of them are black that’s not enough, but when you look at three blacks and three women, that shows a little improvement in terms of diversity.”

It’s an improvement that McNeil hopes will give minorities and women an opportunity to serve and represent constituents of their community.

“You have to look forward and be hopeful that one day an African-American can lead the city as the mayor of the City of Springfield,” said McNeil.

“Under section two of the Voting Rights Act, we didn’t feel African-Americans were fairly represented in the City of Springfield,” McNeil said. “In 1985 we filed a lawsuit against the City of Springfield to change the form of government.”

It’s a change that has finally paved the way for others.

“The whole point of filing the lawsuit is to give minorities or women an opportunity to serve and represent constituents of their community,” McNeil explained.

The first woman of color to serve on Springfield City Council was alderwoman Gail Simpson from 2007 to 2015 and then again in 2019.

Thereafter was former alderwoman Doris Turner and now it’s Lakeisha Purchase, who currently represents Ward five.

It’s a point in history that is particularly hitting home for those in the Springfield chapter of the NAACP.

“To have people on the city council who look like me, who understand the impact it has on the community from an equity lens is important,” the president of NAACP Teresa Haley said. “When you have 9 to 10 aldermen and two of them are black that’s not enough, but when you look at three blacks and three women, that shows a little improvement in terms of diversity.”

It’s an improvement that McNeil hopes will give minorities and women an opportunity to serve and represent constituents of their community.

“You have to look forward and be hopeful that one day an African-American can lead the city as the mayor of the City of Springfield,” said McNeil.

Source: newschannel20.com

Lakeisha Purchase was the unanimous choice of Springfield aldermen to succeed Andrew Proctor as the Ward 5 representative on the city council. Proctor moved to the Chicago area.

“I wanted to do public service, and so I got active on the east side of Springfield with Ald. (Roy) Williams and Ald. (Shawn) Gregory and One in a Million and hit the ground running,” she told aldermen Tuesday just before the vote.

“Ward 5 is the economic engine for the city of Springfield,” Purchase continued, describing the area that includes part of downtown and north of there. “Not only is it centralized, but we have the two hospitals, the school of medicine, a lot of the state working bulidings, and a lot of older neighborhoods.”

There was some friction when the council was considering Williams for Ward 3, because, contrary to what some described as a “gentlemen’s agreement,” he would not commit not to run for a full term. Purchase says “we’ve moved past that” in her winning unanimous support despite declaring she will run as an incumbent in 2023.

The appointment brings the number of alderwoman on the council back to three and for the first time puts three Blacks on the council.

Source: wtax.com

Mayor Jim Langfelder has recently announced that Lakeisha Purchase will fill the Ward 5 aldermanic vacancy.

Ward 5 is a place that Purchase calls home. Actually, she’s been involved in helping rebuild the neighborhood, as well as being apart of the Enos Park Neighborhood Association. She is no stranger to the work that it takes to empower and rebuild a community.

In the press release, Langfelder states, “I believe she will be a strong voice for the residents of Ward 5 and will keep the best interest of the community in mind. That is why I’m proud to nominate her to fulfill the Ward 5 aldermanic seat on the Springfield City Council.”

Purchase’s nomination went in front of City Council on Sept. 7th, for emergency passage.

Source & full article: www.wqlz.com

All signs point to Lakeisha Purchase becoming Ward 5’s new representative on the city council.

Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder on Thursday announced he is nominating Purchase, a Capital Township trustee who previously ran to be Ward 5’s representative in 2019, to fill the vacant seat on the council. Purchase, if confirmed at Tuesday’s council meeting, would be the third woman to currently serve on the council and the first Black woman to serve since state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, relinquished her Ward 3 seat in February.

“I believe she will be a strong voice for the residents of Ward 5 and will keep the best interest of the community in mind,” Langfelder said in a news release Thursday. “That is why I’m proud to nominate her to fulfill the Ward 5 aldermanic seat on the Springfield City Council.”

Source & full article: www.sj-r.com