$2.4M investment in Quincy’s downtown could make the area more enjoyable
QUINCY (WGEM) - According to city officials, one part of downtown Quincy could look a lot different and be much more pedestrian friendly come this spring.
This comes after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker awarded $106 million dollars in grants to revitalize areas throughout the state.
The city of Quincy will use $2.4 million to revitalize this 6th Street Promenade.
“Replacing the tired streetscape with a new vibrant, pedestrian-oriented environment with a streetscape where it can promote events and turn the promenade into a point of destination for visitors and tourists, is the goal,” City Planning and Development Director Chuck Bevelheimer said.
Bevelheimer said the city invested about a million dollars in TIF funds and $800,000 in water and sewer funds for this public infrastructure project.
“The city has seen significant investment by the private sector which helped drive this application,” he said.
Quincy Brewing Company Owner Tieraney Craig said business owners like herself, within the corridor, have invested their own money in bringing consultants to the area.
“To kind of help us decide what we what would look good, what would be beneficial to Quincy,” Craig said.
“Plus when you add private equity and private investment, in terms of us and so many other folks we’ve brought in investors from out of not just outside of Quincy but also outside of the state that all of those dollars go right back into the community,” Tanninger Companies Co-Owner Ryan Jude Tanner said.
An investment they said will spread benefits across the entire community, not just through downtown.
“Now Quincy has, you know, 40,000 people,” Craig said. “We want more people than that walking through our door so we need to attract visitors, we need to track the surrounding communities, but we also need to attract people from out of town.”
“The revenue as well as the labor force that creates and builds and designs and imagines what the space looks like. So it’s not a one-dimensional concept... it’s this idea that all of us are kind of rising together,” Tanner said. “And everyone will benefit from this project.”
“It calls for basically the demolition of the two blocks of streetscape with new pavers, lights, pavement curbs,” Bevelheimer said.
Essentially having the ability to convert this downtown area into a plaza during events, a plan Craig said will stimulate the economy by creating spaces people will want to enjoy.
“When you create these spaces that people want to go, you’re inviting families and you know all sorts of people to come to Quincy,” she said.
Bevelheimer said the city hasn’t received the grant award documents; the information that will clarify the special funding conditions. He said they’ll need that before any construction can start.
Bevelheimer said he doesn’t have an exact date yet without having the award documents but hopes to start the bidding process this fall and construction come spring. Once construction starts, he said it could take six months to a year to finish.
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