Coming up on December 27th, demolition will begin on nine old buildings in Hoopeston. Mayor Jeff Wise says this is mostly concentrated in the 200 block of East Main Street; with six of the buildings pretty much altogether, and three others that are separate. As Wise recently told Laura Williams on 1490 WDAN’s Community Connection program, the idea is to give incoming businesses a chance to start fresh and create their own structures, rather than needing to put something like $200,000 into rehabbing old structures.
AUDIO: The number of hours it took us to gain possession of these buildings, and to get out the bids, work with the engineers and architects, and get everything together; but this is, honestly, probably one of the biggest projects that Hoopeston has done in decades.
Mayor Wise stated that, no, the railroad world is not what it used to be, and Hoopeston is not located right along an interstate. But at the same time, he sees Hoopeston as a place for unique businesses, and he’s got some ideas for the downtown space where these buildings are coming down.
AUDIO: We’re going to create one small area of greenspace. We’d love to see, like a stage or something; so if somebody wanted to have like a small, outdoor concert or revival or something downtown, they’d be able to do that. But we’re going to put the rest of them up for development. We really want to see downtown grow again.
This all comes after the news in early November that Vermilion County plans to provide $600,000 in ARPA COVID relief money for road improvements that will help bring a hotel to Hoopeston.
To hear all of Laura Williams’ interview with Hoopeston’s Mayor Jeff Wise, which aired on December 13th, please go to https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/the-community-connection/
PREVIOUS STORY:
https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/2023/11/08/hoopeston-development-plans-clear-big-hurdle/
