The Future
THE FUTURE IS ARRIVING SOON FOR
DOWNTOWN EAST PEORIA
New stores, hotel and office buildings nearly ready to open
Bill Liesse
40
thePeorian.com
P
erhaps giddy over the
rapid retail expansion well
under way in East Peoria,
area residents fantasized about
perhaps the only retailer with
stores bigger than those of Bass
Pro Shops and Costco.
Alas, the rumors are false.
IKEA has no plans to build in
East Peoria.
“
I’m not aware of the rumors
and I’m not aware of any plans,”
said Joseph Roth, the expan-
sion spokesman for the Swed-
ish home-products giant. “We
typically need 20 to 30 acres that
we purchase. More importantly,
we typically need a metropolitan
area of 2 million-plus, and I don’t
think the Peoria area fits that
criterion.”
Be that as it may, East Peoria
officials are left feeling anything
but blue. With at least seven
construction projects currently
under way in the city’s “new
downtown,” East Peoria still
anticipates the opening of Costco,
first among the new retailers, on
Nov. 14.
The wildly successful whole-
sale giant will occupy the south-
west corner of the new 86-acre
development, along Richland
Street. As the crow flies, Costco
basically sits behind what has
served as downtown East Peoria,
a strip mall along Main Street
anchored by Aldi and fronted by
City Hall.
The other main anchor of the
new development, Target, is
aiming for a late-spring open-
ing, as are the next-largest stores,
Gordman’s and ULTA. The latter,
a beauty-products retailer with
an outlet at Peoria’s Westlake
Shopping Center, will lease an
11,000-
square-foot space adjacent
to Target in East Peoria. Gord-
man’s will occupy 50,000 square
feet near the southeast corner of
the overall development.
Two 25,000-foot retail spaces
between Target and Gordman’s
are yet to have tenants.
“
We continue to beat the
bushes for others,” East Peoria
Mayor Dave Mingus said.
The mayor is excited about the
progress he sees daily.
“
Most of the buildings in the
first phase are vertical, and you
can see the floors,” Mingus said.
Hometown Community
Bank is building a three-story,
54,000-
square-foot branch on the
north corner of a roundabout
created at the intersection of
Washington Street and the new
Clocktower Drive. The latter
street extends to Camp Street to
create new traffic-flow options to
the development. A bridge con-
necting Altorfer Lane to Camp
Street will follow.
