Peoria Continues to Grow

The City recently conducted a special census, showing that the City has grown by a total of 8,455 people since the 2000 Census.

More information on the link below:

http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/special-census

Workforce Development

Careers 2008 Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm

Location: Northwoods Mall

More info on the Workforce Development Blog at:

http://peoriaworkforce.blogspot.com/

Alumni Housing

The web page below describes a very nice alumni housing development for MIT and Harvard. A development like this would be great for Peoria and Bradley University.

http://303third.net/

The link below describes the program of a company that specializes in University Alumni Housing.

http://www.campuscontinuum.com/

Aging baby boomers will soon want one story homes. And many of them will want the vitality of city living without the cost of a large and expensive metro area. And some of them will fondly remember their old University.

Retirement homes in conjunction with Universities have become increasingly common. The housing can be privately developed, with alumni and retired faculty targeted as purchasers. A number of programs have been developed where private developers work with Universities to market retirement communities to alumni. The involvement of the University can be minimal, but usually involves letting their alumni know about the proposed development and conducting a survey to find out what type of homes they prefer.

The alumni bring a love of the University, a pool of supporter / volunteers / students, and the potential for donations and bequests. They can also afford a nice home, selling their single family home in a more expensive housing market, and moving to Peoria. From the City perspective a program to bring retired alumni back brings in affluent citizens with retirement nest eggs. They spend money, don't need jobs, and contribute to the city. They would help to rebuild several of our neighborhoods that need redevelopment.

In marketing Peoria to national developers, we encountered a number of Bradley alums and one who dated a Bradley student. They all were interested in how the University and City were doing. Bradley Alumni Developers would be obvious candidates for recruitment for the development of one or more retirement communities. There are also a number of firms that specialize in this type of housing. I have listed a few of the web pages below: You will notice that Campus Continuum continuously conducts a nice web based questionnaire aimed at alumni retirees - a pretty effective and low cost way to see if there is interest in retiring back to the campus, and a low cost way to help figure out the type of housing desired.

WEB PAGES

http://www.meadowoodrc.com/iuconnection.html

http://www.walshconstructionco.com/adobe/URCAD.pdf

http://www.offcampus.housing.umich.edu/files/nyt_retirement_article.pdf

"Baby Boomers, Back to Campus," University Business Magazine, 2/08, http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx? articleid=1004

"Retirees Heading Back to College," Tampa Bay Online, 2/1/08, http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/01/ho-home- u/

"Retirees Attracted by the College Lifestyle," The Washington Times, 10/5/07, http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article ? AID=/20071005/HOME/110050020/1019

Good article on building "Green" in InterBusiness Magazine by Don Forrest of Farnsworth Engineering. Read it at:

http://www.peoriamagazines.com/ibi/2007/jul/green-building-makes-dollars-and-sense

Farnsworth is assisting the city in promoting Sustainable Development in Peoria. Read about it at:

http://sustainablepeoria.blogspot.com/

Population and Employment within 10 Mile Radius

Center Point of 10 mile circles

Blue Circle I-74 and Washington (Downtown)

Green Circle I-474 and Washington

Red Circle Route 6 and War Memorial Drive (Grand Prairie)

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Success

Click on the line below to see the success of TIF in Peoria.

TIF SPREADSHEET

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pSt1ivzaCLuN4WFfX60coQw

TIF Districts spur revitalization of older neighborhoods, increasing tax base and jobs. Successful projects include:

Caterpillar
CBT
CityScape Apartments
Cranes & Equipment
Drumheller Bag
First Capital Bank
HCH Administration
IL Assn. of Neurosurgery
InPlay
Kirby Risk
O’Brien Stadium
O’Brien Steel
Orthopedic Institute
Plattner Orthopedic
PMP
Renal Care Center
Spring Grove Residential
Staybridge Suites
Superior Consolidated
Technicraft
U. of I. College of Medicine
Valley Park Shopping Cntr.
Valeska Hinton School
Westmont Supply
WW Grainger
401Water Street

More info on TIF at

http://peoriatif.blogspot.com/

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Hospitality Improvement Zone

(HIZ) TIF

The cities of Tinley Park, East Peoria, and Normal have developed high quality conference centers and hotels which draw business from Peoria. Springfield’s attractiveness has been greatly enhanced by the Lincoln Museum. These improved competitors all received substantial assistance from government, and will draw business from downtown Peoria.

Our downtown hotels and other hospitality industry business struggle to compete with these quality new developments. The City can choose to compete or not to compete. The proposed Hospitality Improvement Zone would assist existing and new businesses invest, improve, and expand.

City Council has directed staff to present the potential HIZ TIF to our sister governments, and request their input and direction. We also ask our citizens to send us their recommendations. Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate your viewpoint.

Send comments or questions to Craighullinger@gmail.com

309 643 0482

More info at

http://peoriatif.blogspot.com/

http://hospitalityimprovementzone.blogspot.com/

Turner Center for Entrepreneurship

The Turner Center for Entrepreneurship is a not-for-profit program located at Bradley University. The centers which make up the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship provide business counseling, technical assistance, training, and educational activities for individuals interested in owning their own businesses. We also help existing entrepreneurs and businesses who want to expand or take advantageof new opportunities and technologies, are interested in marketing their products and services interationally, or are seeking to commercialize new products and technologies.

More info at http://www.bradley.edu/turnercenter/