City leaders in Hoopeston remain optimistic that the community will get a new hotel and restaurant. But discussions with an investment group, led by Russ Leigh are continuing. Leigh owns the land along Illinois route 9 (just west of a Marathon gas station) in Hoopeston where the development is proposed. Bill Pickett has more….
(This is the site along Illinois route 9.)
Hoopeston Mayor Jeff Wise (shown above) outlines what is being proposed…
{AUDIO: “The goal is to have a 42 room hotel, then also add a nationally-recognized restaurant. It will be a fast-food joint – we know that. But anything is a bonus to get that – and then a small strip mall and some storage units that they want to add.”}
The Mayor says Hoopeston has a funding package ready to help with infrastructure –
{AUDIO: “What we’ve got as far as the package that we’re offering the developers is: It would be $50-thousand dollars out of the Hoopeston TIF Fund, $200-thousand dollars out of the City of Hoopeston’s ARPA money, and then the $600-thousand dollars from Vermilion County ARPA funds which, I believe they granted us that back in December.}
Those funds fall short of the estimated cost of putting in a new road and other infrastructure, which city leaders believe will be around $1.1 million dollars. And if no way can be found to cover the other cost, Mayor Wise says the city might have to return $600-thousand dollars in federal ARPA funds to Vermilion County.
Mayor Wise adds that he knows, personally, how not having a hotel has hurt the city….
{AUDIO: “My daughter’s actually getting married next summer, and she couldn’t do Hoopeston. Because you have people come up – we’ve got great places – like the Legion – to have a wedding. We have plenty of churches here in Hoopeston – so we could have the wedding. They could have the reception at the Legion or something – and there’s no place for anybody to stay. So where are all of your guests going to stay? And so this would be a big boost to the city because we would finally have that place that people could actually stay – which then, potentially could draw in more business – because that’s something we desperately need.”}
The Mayor remains hopeful that the development agreement can be finalized within the next couple of months so that construction could begin next spring.
