10 Collective Action On Catalytic Projects

#10

Collective Action on Catalytic Projects

Every community has projects that seem so complex, expensive and challenging that the pathway to tackle them is more overwhelming than one individual or organization can address. We are no stranger to these projects here in the Greater Springfield Area, and through The Next 10 the community elevated them as critical and important to our community’s future. These projects will take collective, coordinated action, multiple partners, many sources of funding, and most importantly, the community’s support.

Image courtesy of The State-Journal Register

Springfield was awarded the Pillsbury Mill project in 1929 after competing with other cities in Illinois and the Midwest. The 18-acre site was open ground at the time, and had excellent rail connections. The facility was originally

intended to employ 100-150 individuals, but by the 1950s

was employing 1,800. A reduction in jobs would come thereafter as automation was introduced. In 1989, Pillsbury was purchased and two years later the mill was sold to Cargill. Only about 45 employees remained and they too lost their jobs when the plant was closed and sold in 2001. The site has changed hands three times in the 20 years since.

Pillsbury Site Redevelopment

For two decades, the community has pushed for answers and action on the former Pillsbury Mill site in the East Side. Now, that is closer to becoming a reality. Nearly four years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed asbestos out of every building, leaving it a shell. The plant sits on 18 acres and is considered a blight in the community. A new group called Moving Pillsbury Forward—established by local community members—is now working to have the area revitalized. The site cleanup is anticipated to cost millions of dollars, but that investment could pave the way for significant new development. The Next 10 will support the community’s efforts to move this project forward.

Benedictine Campus Reimagined

Benedictine University closed its 25-acre, 11-building college campus in 2018 as they restructured and sought more modern space to meet their needs. Since that time, the buildings on the site have remained vacant and for sale. They have also recently seen an increase in vandalism. The site poses redevelopment opportunities and challenges for private sector development, because it houses historic buildings, a chapel, a music hall, and other educational and training facilities. Through The Next 10, the community expressed a strong desire to see the campus revitalized as a hub of community and educational activity, with some noting a unique opportunity to create an arts-based campus given existing facilities. Realizing a community-led vision means retaining ownership and control of the site locally. This will be the focus of The Next 10—to ensure that this beautiful campus can remain and be reimagined by and for the community.

Establish And Implement A Community Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)

A Community Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) is a plan for regional economic development, designed to build capacity and guide the economic prosperity and resiliency of an area or region. Most every community and region of Sangamon County’s size across the country has a CEDS, which not only guides economic development strategy, but helps local governments obtain critical economic development funding from the federal government. Recognizing the critical need for and importance of the CEDS in helping our community to obtain financial support for other projects in The Next 10, the Community Foundation and the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance have jointly funded its development. The CEDS will help guide the Greater Springfield Area’s economic development strategies in the future.

The Ursuline order of Catholic nuns played an important role in educating Springfield’s youth from the mid-1800s through most of the 20th

century, founding Ursuline Academy on 6.5 acres of North Fifth Street in 1857. In 1929, the Ursuline sisters established the community’s first two-year junior college, Springfield Junior College, in the George Brinkerhoff mansion. It flourished and quickly expanded into new buildings, and would

eventually become Springfield College in Illinois (SCI) in the late 1960s.

SCI merged with Benedictine in 2009, establishing Benedictine University at Springfield as a four-year institution with a full

range of academic programs. In 2014, it was announced that the campus was abandoning undergraduate programs. Shortly thereafter it would move its remaining programs elsewhere in Springfield and closed the 90-year old campus.

Tackling big projects takes time, resources and coordination. The Next 10 has exhibited how much people have an appetite to take on big challenges and forge a new path for the future of the Greater Springfield Area.”

RYAN McCRADY

President, Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance

Promising Ideas

» Repurpose the Third Street Rail Corridor after rail lines are relocated

» Activate the Mid-Illinois Medical District

» Recruit a professional sports team to Springfield