Pere Marquette progress slow but sure

Model rooms approved, guts nearly replaced; Matthews shooting for April 30 opening

There was a time when the restaurant at the Hotel Pere Marquette had a special table that was where young men would propose to young women, where they then would sit when celebrating their anniversary or on other special occasions.

Table 19 was also where couples would sit when the husband forgot the anniversary or his wife's birthday.

Regardless the reason, special occasions were why that special table existed and it is why the new restaurant at the Hotel Pere Marquette will be called Table 19 when it is rebuilt and reopened next spring. "It will be a special place," owner Gary Matthews said Friday while conducting a tour of the hotel that is still mostly a shell of its former grandeur.

The purpose of this tour was to show off the guest rooms on the 10th floor that have been completely refurbished and approved by the Marriott Corp., which will manage hotel and will own the adjoining Marriott Courtyard when it is constructed.

Construction on that 10-story tower should begin in early spring, not long before the Pere Marquette renovations are completed and the hotel reopened. The Marriott Courtyard construction is awaiting demolition of the buildings along Main Street between the Pere Marquette and Monroe Street, which will occur once those properties are handed over to Matthews. That will be after the new Big Al's at Jefferson and Harrison streets is finished and opened, probably by early in 2013.

The six-story, 455-vehicle parking deck is nearly completed now and work will begin soon on the elevated walkway that will join the deck and both hotels to the Peoria Civic Center.

A tour through the Pere Marquette now yields little but bare concrete and dust, at least on the first two floors. But much of the preparatory work, including complete replacement of the heating and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical and even the sewer to and from the structure, are nearly finished now. Most of the windows have been replaced, most light fixtures have been repaired or replaced and even the original mural in the grandest banquet room in the building, the Cotillion Room, has been refurbished.

Work on the guest rooms and suites is getting underway now that the folks at Marriott have given their approval to the design of the rooms and the halls. There will be two shifts working six days a week on that part of the project. "Everything has to be sequenced from top to bottom. That takes extra time and that's why two shifts will make a big difference," he said.

Matthews explained that Marriott insists that two rooms of a hotel be finished before any others so it can approve the décor — even down to the doorknobs and receptacle plates — before allowing the remaining rooms to be done the same way. If the company doesn't approve of something it must be redone and reinspected, Matthews said.

"There were a few things they wouldn't approve the first time they came through, but it was mostly small things," he said, citing covers over the hallway lights, the number of electric receptacles between the beds in the double rooms, and the sheers on the windows. "Where they wanted something different we changed it. When they came back they approved everything so now we can get started in earnest," Matthews said.

A target opening date of April 30 has been set, which means the project will miss the city-imposed deadline of March 1 and thus cost Matthews about two months worth of penalties.

He said, however, it couldn't be helped because of the sheer magnitude of what had to be done and finding problems that took much longer to fix than originally expected.

For the latter he cited the asbestos abatement in the hotel basement. There was more than expected.

Another was the amount of time it took to clean out the 21 basement-to-roof shafts that hold the building's plumbing and electrical works before those works could be replaced. That's because when the shafts were opened workers found "an unbelievable amount" of wastewater and debris — including towels and other cloth that had been flushed down toilets — in the shafts. 

"The smell was horrible. But it's gone now and the shafts are clean, all the plumbing and electrical is replaced and another bonus is that the shafts all now have a two-hour fire rating. But the extra work took well over a million dollars," he said. "I can't complain, though. It was something that had to be done. And this will probably be the safest building in Peoria when we're finished."

The Pere Marquette will boast 284 rooms, with 30 suites, when finished. The new Marriott Courtyard tower will have 116 rooms, all suites. There will be retail space on the street level of the parking deck, along Monroe Street, and Matthews said he is excited by one likely tenant. He said he could not yet identify that tenant.

The restaurant will seat 224 and the new lounge area at the front of the hotel will be dazzling, Matthews said. "I don't want any part of it to not have the 'wow factor,'" he said.

The hotel will have 275 employees and Marriott will do four weeks of training before doing a soft opening in the spring, Matthews said. "They are meticulous in their training, which is good. When we open, they'll be ready," he said.

Matthews said he is pleased with the progress and that the project is basically on budget despite the issues that caused the renovations to take longer than expected. "We are literally rebuilding this structure from the inside going out. We tore this thing down to the skeleton. But it is going well," he said.

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com

'Next to Normal' opens Friday at Corn Stock

Musical drama focuses on how mental illness affects family

Mental illness can affect people in many different ways, but it also can adversely affect the families of those who are ill.

The Broadway hit musical drama "Next to Normal" focuses on those effects as well as looking at the sometimes controversial treatment for mental illness.

"Next to Normal" open a five-show run at Corn Stock Theatre's Winter Playhouse at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets can be reserved by calling 676-2196. 

It is perhaps fitting that one of the songs in "Next to Normal" refers to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the quintessence of films about severe mental illness.

That's because the main character in "Next to Normal," the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical that makes its regional premier at Corn Stock Theatre on Friday, has let delusion become her way of coping with the tragic events of life.

In another song that character, Diana Goodman, says to her husband, "Do you wake up in the morning and need help to lift your head? Do you read obituaries and feel jealous of the dead? It's like living on a cliffside, not knowing when you'll dive, you don't know! You don't know what it's like to die alive!"  

But don't think that little else needs to be said about that character or the show. "Next to Normal" is indeed what director Robin Hunt calls "an emotional roller coaster ride" and far from a happy-go-lucky musical with a fairy tale ending.

This is musical drama; this is about real life. The lyrics are gripping, the rock music clean. And it's presented Corn Stock Theatre's intimate Winter Playhouse, bringing these people close to the audience with no place to hide.

"This musical will not shock anyone but it will take the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride. The audience will feel experience every high and feel every low this family goes through," Hunt said just before a recent dress rehearsal. "It will test the emotions of everyone who sees it."

"Next to Normal" opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. Its five-show run will continue at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 and 10. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. To reserve tickets call the Corn Stock box office at 676-2196.

"Next to Normal" was written by Brian Yorkey with music by Tom Kitt. The story essentially is about Diana Goodman's worsening bipolar disorder and how it affects her family, including husband Dan, who is coping himself while trying to keep his wife from diving off that cliff, and children Gabe and Natalie, each with their own unique backgrounds and problems.  

It was a Broadway success, with 11 Tony Award nominations, and it was in New York that Hunt first saw it.

"It is such an incredible story. It spoke to me from the very beginning and I knew I had to be part of it," said Hunt in explaining why she wanted to direct it now at a time she has been going from show to show, theatre to theatre — including "Les Miserables" at Eastlight Theatre this past summer.

"It certainly ranks among the top directing challenges I've ever had. Diving into the characters, finding their real depth and bringing it out has been a challenge but rewarding. What audiences will see is that these people have relationships they are dealing with as well, but in these relationships I think the audiences will be able to relate to these characters," she said.

"Our cast has done a tremendous job of portraying real people, being real people on stage and not merely caricatures. I have been incredibly blessed with this cast," Hunt added.

Diana Goodman is being portrayed by Stephanie Myre in her first show at Corn Stock. Community theater veterans Mike Reams, Rebekah Dentino and Caleb Finley portray the rest of the Goodman family, Dan, Natalie and Gabe, respectively. Tim Jenkins is Henry, Natalie's boyfriend, and Stephen Peterson portrays the doctors who treat Diana.

The five-piece orchestra, set up in the dance studio next to the theatre, is led by music director Susan Somerville Brown.

Chip Joyce designed the simple, yet effective set that Hunt said is just what she hoped for in that "nothing is symmetrical; rather everything is just a little bit next to normal." Light design by Megan Larke brings up different areas of the set to help portray the emotions of the lyrics.

Hunt said the Winter Playhouse "is an incredible venue for this show. It is so intimate that the audience is sitting right there with the family in their kitchen or in the doctor's office with Diana. And the chemistry among the cast is so good that when a look between them is all that is needed to convey something, the audience sees it clearly. Nothing is lost."

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com  

Inspiring, empowering women

 Women's Lifestyle Show 2012 showcases changes

With a nationally known powerful woman as featured speaker, a return engagement from a real ghost whisperer and changes in resentation, the Women's Lifestyle Show for 2012 was deemed a success.

The 21st Women's Lifestyle Show was Saturday at the Peoria Civic Center and Erin Brockovich set the tone in delivering the message that people who believe in themselves can overcome any problems they face.

The United States has enough environmental problems and issues that one would think it would have been one of the key issues in the current presidential campaign, said Erin Brockovich.

Instead, the famed activist said Saturday, neither candidate has uttered a word about the environment or what needs to be done to preserve it and to help those victimized industrial carelessness.

"I've been disappointed in the whole campaign, really; with more than just the environmental issue. I haven't heard anything on the environment," said Brockovich, in Peoria on Saturday to speak at the Women's Lifestyle Show at the Civic Center.

In a brief interview before she spoke to a large crowd at the Lifestyle Show, Brockovich said she will likely vote for President Obama, as she did in 2008, because she's not been convinced to "changes horses midstream" by anything Republican challenger Mitt Romney has said or done.

In the meantime, Brockovich said, problems with the environment are not going away and in fact, may be worsening if the amount of cases she hears about is any indication. She talked about a registry she created to track the cases and noted they cover most of the country.

"We are hearing about it more and more all the time," she said. "We are not asking industry to go away, but we don't want them to poison us, either."

Brockovich gained famed because of a movie 12 years ago titled "Erin Brockovich." The tall, statuesque legal researcher was portrayed in the film by Julia Roberts, who won an Oscar for her performance.

The film was about how Brockovich got started looking out for people who have been harmed by damage to the environment and have no other way to be helped. She went to bat for people in a small California town made ill by water contamination caused by Pacific Gas & Electric and ended up helping gain the largest settlement in U.S. tort injury history of $333 million.

Since then she has been an advocate for people not only harmed by a damaged environment but also by defective products and pharmaceuticals. She is no stranger to Illinois; she currently is working on many cases started in the state. While none were generated out of Peoria, they include cases from Decatur and Rockford involving toxic landfills as well as cases originating from Ottawa, Champaign, Clinton and Sauk Village.

One of her worst cases, she said, stems from the piling of lead in a small Missouri town that have caused people, mostly children, to become ill.

Some of the cases, she said, "make me amazed that I live in the United States and seeing these areas with third-world conditions."

Much blame, Brockovich said, should be pinned on the lack of effective communications betweens various agencies charged with making sure these problems don't occur. Also, empty promises don't help.

"There are 30,000 Superfund sites that haven't been cleaned up. That is disconcerting. I would like to know if the (U.S.) senators in each state even knows how many Superfund sites they have in their state," she said.

Superfund refers to the program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed at cleaning up toxic waste sites throughout the country. There are numerous sites in Illinois, according to the EPA website, but few are getting Superfund attention.

Brockovich said she is getting more involved with problems in the pharmaceutical industry because people don't feel they have any place to turn to report problems.

"Sometimes it seems we wait for Superman to come and he isn't coming," she said in explaining that people need first to look out for themselves. "Usually the only standing in our way (of getting something done) is ourselves. If people believe in themselves, they will overcome."

The Women's Lifestyle Show was in its 21st year this year and, now under the sole ownership of Joy Miller, underwent many changes this year. The most noticeable was that the vendors were grouped together according to what they offered and the groups were called pavilions. Each pavilion had its own stage.

Briefs conversations with people at the show about midway through, when the crowd was perhaps at its largest, found that most believed it was better.

"To me, it just seems like there is a lot more room for everything," one woman said. "Looking around it seems there are as many people as in past years but we aren't all bumping into each other trying to get around."

Another said she found it easy to find what she was looking for by looking for the signs marking each pavilion.

One of the show's stars the past two years also complimented the changes. "This is great," said Maureen Hancock, the ghost whisperer who has presented and given readings during the shows.

Miller said she was pleased to hear similar sentiments during the show. "I am absolutely pleased with how it has gone. Attendance has been tremendous," she said. Final attendance figures were not available Saturday.

"It really did seem like people loved the new set-up. We found there is still some tweaking to do, but we learned some things and we will be even more improved next year," she said.

Miller said the changes opened up space by creating corners for the vendors. That enabled more of them, including more interactive booths in several areas, including the health and wellness pavilion. "I've never seen that many people go to those areas before and I think the new set-up helped with that. Plus I do believe more people are becoming conscious of their health and what they need to do to improve it," Miller said.

She said the decision to bring in someone of Brockovich's stature to the show "was meant to really showcase what we're doing here. It was important to bring in an empowering, strong woman to be consistent with our message to women that they can be powerful and an inspiration."

Hancock said one of the things that has impressed her about Peoria in her two years of attending the Women's Lifestyle Show has been its energy and its people. "I love it here," said the Boston native.

"The people are so friendly and so open and compassionate. Peoria to me was so unexpected. It's beautiful here. I've done a lot of trade shows and the people here always make us feel so welcome. And people in Peoria get my humor, which is important to me because of what I do. Peoria is good at weaving this web, the connections between the living and the departed," she said.

Hancock said she hopes to return next year.

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com

Area home sales continue recovery

Sales, average and median prices all up in Q3; PAAR installs new officers for 2012-2013                

The Peoria-area housing market continued to show improvement during the third quarter, according to the Peoria Area Association of Realtors.

Sales increased more than 12 percent compared with the third quarter of 2011.

Also, PAAR said, the average and median sale prices reached all-time third quarter records.

Real estate sales in the Peoria area continued to improve in the third quarter and local Realtors believe the market will continue to recover in the near-term.

Sales of single-family houses and condominiums reached 1,429 in the third quarter, an increase of 12.8 percent from the 1,267 sold in the third quarter of 2011, according to figures released this week by the Peoria Area Association of Realtors.

It was the third consecutive year that third-quarter sales were higher. It was the highest number of third-quarter sales since 2008, when 1,569 homes were sold in the July-September period.

The association said the median price of a home hit a record high of $139,950 in July, the seventh consecutive month sale prices improved from the previous year.

"While buyer activity was a bit slower in September than it had been in the summer, the quarterly year-over-year statistics show sales going up. On average, homes inventory and days on the market are going down. The numbers of active listings is below 2,500, reminiscent of 2005 levels," the PAAR report said.  

The report said the inventory of available homes continues to drop, with 25.3 percent fewer homes on the market than last year. "The month's supply of inventory, an indicator that differentiates between a buyer's and seller's market, is down 35.1 percent to 6.1 month's supply – a neutral territory," the association said, adding that was also 0.5 percent lower than the last quarterly report.

The average sales price in the Peoria area rose by 7 percent in the third quarter of 2012, to $157,160. Median sales price was up 8.1 percent, to $134,000, compared with $124,000 in the third quarter of 2011.

"On average, home prices are up and days on the market are down, but this varies by area. Days on the market are down 6 percent, with homes selling on average in 98 days, six days fewer than last year. But some price ranges and some communities have seen a faster recovery than others, while some are still holding steady or have not seen as fast of a recovery," PAAR said.

The price range of homes that tended, on average, to sell the quickest was the $75,000 and below, at 86 days, and the price range that tended to sell the slowest was, on average, the $300,001 to $400,000 range, at 148 days, but again this still varies greatly, the report said.

John Purple, the newly installed president of PAAR, said, "I want to remind Peoria area homeowners that real estate is local. We are fortunate that the Greater Peoria area has seen a better-than-average economic recovery, unemployment is lower and mortgage rates are still at unprecedented low rates. Plus our housing market never had the extreme highs of other markets, so we avoided the big lows. This is helping fuel the housing recovery in our area. So regardless of what you hear on national news, the Peoria area is a great place to buy or sell a home."

Noting the increase in closed sales and the decrease in inventory, Purple said the Peoria market "is evenly balanced between buyers and sellers. Still, while home sales are improving on average, real estate is local and can vary by community and even neighborhood. Well-maintained homes with curb-appeal that are well priced are selling more quickly, but that can vary depending on price range and the neighborhood."

Purple, an agent with Re/Max Unlimited, is president of the association for 2012-2013. He's had his real estate license since 1986 and a Realtor for 23 years. He owned Purple Realty and Insurance Co. for 19 years before joining Re/Max.

As president of PAAR Purple will be a member of the board of directors of the Illinois Association of Realtors.

Other PAAR officers for the next year are Tonya Burris of Traders Realty Corporation, president-elect, and Phil Harvey of Re/Max Unlimited, treasurer/secretary.

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com