By: Diane Benjamin WGLT did a story yesterday pertaining to the still empty space at 1 Uptown Circle. Take a minute and read it: https://www.wglt.org/emails-show-developers-struggle-find-first-floor-tenant-uptown-building Since the Town of Normal and WGLT are best buds, there has to be a reason for this story. I’ve noted many times Tartan Realty had the opportunity to rent […]
By: Diane Benjamin The first floor of 1 Uptown Circle has been vacant and never rented since the building was finished in 2017. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1-Uptown-Cir-Normal-IL/10774114/ The Uptown TIF was started in 2003 and incurred a massive amount of debt. To date, according to the reports filed by Normal, the TIF has only earned $15,065,431. That isn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found this old WGLT story while looking for something else. It’s always fun to see what taxpayers were told before a project and compare it to reality. This article is from March of 2016. Source: wglt.org Estimating Taxpayer Support Uptown Construction Project WGLT and the Town of Normal disagreed on the […]
The ornaments are for sale: By: Dine Benjamin https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3467 Since the video had “technical difficulties” just during public comment at the last meeting, the minutes for approval tonight have a TINY bit of info on each person who spoke – emphasis on TINY: All of the speakers with the exception of Dave Shields were against […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT reported yesterday Trail East construction has been delayed until spring: https://www.wglt.org/mayor-financing-issues-delay-construction-trail-east-until-spring-2020 Note: The last time a new building in Uptown had “financing” issues, the Town agreed to rent an entire floor at above market rates and the main floor is STILL empty. Demolition of the old buildings on Beaufort may start […]
By: Diane Benjamin The sales tax plan for the Fiala brothers created some havoc for some of the Trustees. The citizens of Normal are really tired of the Town’s giveaways, especially to their “friends”. The citizens remember all the properties given away to create Uptown. Nobody would have built there without them. The citizens see […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found this one while looking for something else – the other story tomorrow. Normal prides itself on being “green” and being environment politically correct. Have you heard them talk about LEED Certification? Here’s what that means according to Wikipedia: Of course this makes construction more expensive. Normal has building codes requiring […]
