St. Charles has restarted the redevelopment process for the former police station site downtown by hiring consultants to conduct a feasibility study for the city-owned riverfront property at 10 State .
St Charles back to square one on redevelopment of former police building shawlocal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from shawlocal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, whose district would be home to the development, said he was being pressured to show the casino would provide jobs to constituents in his ward, as promised by the developer.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times file
It all seemed so simple four years ago.
The state would sell the iconic James R. Thompson Center to a developer, rid itself of a building that had become a deferred maintenance nightmare, get a shiny new skyscraper built on the site and rake in a cool $200 million for the effort.
Then the pandemic changed everything.
Yet the Pritzker administration is forging ahead as if nothing has happened, taking steps to sell the building, aided by Ald. Brendan Reilly’s move last month to upzone the site to allow a taller structure, which would sweeten the pot for potential developers.