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….
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(This is the site along Illinois route 9.)
Hoopeston Mayor Jeff Wise (shown above) outlines what is being proposed…
Audio Player{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 Player{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 Player{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.
