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Bloomington council approves property swap with Illinois Wesleyan to spur housing development
Summary
The City Council voted May 11 to approve an ordinance exchanging parcels at 800 North Main with Illinois Wesleyan University to redraw property lines and simplify redevelopment. City leaders said the swap will allow the city to pursue roughly three acres of Main Street–fronting housing and mixed-use development.
The Bloomington City Council on May 11 voted to approve an ordinance authorizing a property exchange with Illinois Wesleyan University intended to unlock redevelopment of the 800 North Main parcel.
City Manager Jeff Jurgens and economic-development staff outlined a plan to redraw parcel lines so the city would receive the front, Main-facing portion — roughly three acres — while Illinois Wesleyan would retain the rear portion. Jurgens said the effort revives a multi-year effort to attract a developer and that several developers have already signaled interest in revised proposals once property lines are adjusted.
"We're really excited to move forward on this and we've got a great partnership," Samantha Mallott, the city's economic development advocate, told the council. Mallott said staff has a scoring rubric to rank developer proposals to secure the most viable project.
Councilmember Hendrick made the motion to approve; the ordinance passed after the electronic roll call. The clerk recorded a brief clerical discrepancy about Councilmember Ward's vote during the roll call that was corrected during the meeting; the ordinance was approved by the council.
The council and staff said they expect the city's portion to be marketed for predominantly housing with some commercial uses and that returned proposals will be ranked and brought back to the council for final selection. Staff identified Bill (senior deputy city manager) and Kelly Pfeifer (development services) as among those who will work on next steps.
Next procedural steps the council described are to solicit revised proposals from developers, evaluate them against the city's rubric and return to council with ranked options for final approval. The transcript records no additional conditions or financial terms of the swap; those details were not specified at the meeting.
