City Council, City of Peoria, Museum Block

Council agenda includes museum redevelopment agreement

31 Comments

The City Council agenda for August 24 includes three items regarding the proposed museum. They include approval of the design concepts, the redevelopment agreement (which includes conveying the land to the County for $1), and vacating certain portions of Liberty and Main streets between Water and Washington streets.

Dave Ransburg, chairman of the Peoria Riverfront Museum, has been meeting privately with City Council members two or three at a time (to avoid an Open Meetings Act violation) to talk about the museum’s plans and to line up at least six votes in favor of the redevelopment agreement and land conveyance.

31 thoughts on “Council agenda includes museum redevelopment agreement”

  1. Pay attention to the political postering that will go on. Spain will give us his usual concern about the IMAX then will go on to tell you how great this is for Peoria and we will be better off without the IMAX. He knew all along that there was a big possibility there was not going to be an IMAX. He was questioned about it while he was giving presentations for it at neighborhood groups. He like the rest of them said that once the voters pass the referendum, IMAX will sign.

    He is up for re-election this Spring. VOTE HIM OUT!

    BTW, Don’t be surprised to see the IMAX across the river.I have got a pretty good source on this.YOUR CONSERVATIVE LEADERS ARE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT R RATED MOVIES than meeting budget.In other words ( Hooters and the Par A Dice ) here we go again…..

  2. Of course everythign will be approved and the fact the the PRM lied, and continues to lie, about the IMAX theater will be ignored. I am not a Peoria resident but I sure wouldn’t re-elect anyone who votes for this.

  3. It will all be approved because “its best for Peoria”. Just ask them. They will try to make us believe that they are doing this for the best interest of citizens of Peoria and that anything else would be negligent on their behalf. This wolf in sheep’s clothing is slowly consuming us one million dollars at a time. Any bets on what the actual vote count will be?

  4. Justan, your comment confuses me… we do have a Hooters on this side of the river. And if our “conservative leaders are more concerned about R-rated movies”, I’m not sure why they were fighting so hard earlier this year to give Big Al’s a zoning variance that would let them operate closer to Riverside Church…

    I’m curious also about your “pretty good source” regarding an IMAX across the river. IMAX theaters aren’t “stand alone” places; they’re normally incorporated into museums or multiplexes.

    Unless you’re implying that a multiplex will be part of the Downtown2010 development (which would actually be awesome, something I’ve been arguing downtown Peoria should’ve had for a few years now), I’m not too concerned about IMAX in East Peoria.

  9. IMAX across the river doesn’t always mean East Peoria.

    My younger daughter, who works at the theatre complex near North Pekin, had heard a few months ago, that after AMC finished takeover from Kerasotes, that AMC was thinking about putting an IMAX in that complex. I told her I doubted it; but if part of IMAX’s marketing strategy is including multi-plexes, then maybe it’s not so doubtful.
    There is plenty of land around the Showplace 14 to add something like an IMAX. But who knows.

    I still think the PRM committee should pursue IMAX for Peoria, because that is what everyone was led to believe when they voted for it.

  10. There are imaxes and then there are IMAXes. Just because it’s an IMAX doesn’t mean its a giant screen . IMAX multiplexes purportedly have screens as small as 47’x24′.

  12. We do have a Hooters but that is the problem with most of us is we forget the firestorm around the location of Hooters. It was suppose to be on the deck and was pushed down the river snuggled back because the river front was suppose to be family oriented…..

  13. One other little problem that has not been brought to light is the fact that the improvements being made to Water St., for the museum are going to cause major flooding to the railroad tracks that run along the river. They are going to expect the railroads to fix their own tracks after they flood them. FRA is not going to stand for this and from what I’ve heard there has been no contingency plans that are agreed upon between the Army Corps of Engineers and FRA and the city or county of Peoria and the PRM group. Going to be interesting if they get half way through this and have to stop to tackle this problem.

  14. The railroad tracks do need raised or relocated underground…. under Adams or Jefferson… which would be good for a railroad station.

  15. I thought that there was recently some significant amount of work done to or concerning the tracks, maybe my recollection is bad.

  16. You can’t put the tracks underground because of the aquafier that runs under the river. No solid ground there.

  17. Interesting in-depth article on IMAX in today’s paper.

    Seems like the kind of article you would want before the vote was made, but I guess you don’t want to tick off the wrong group of Peorians.

    Maybe after this deal is done, the PJStar will start analyzing the PRM’s attendance figures and how they came to them.

  18. from BTB: “will continue to pursue an agreement with IMAX”

    Chasing their tail? Or Chasing their tale?

    They want to show “movies” here? Don’t we have enough movie theaters? I thought this was going to be a Peoria Historical Museum? I guess all this talk about “historical” and “educational” are just advertising terms like “new and improved”.

    “1) access to the broadest digital film library, 2) flexible, mission-driven programming, 3) the most innovative and impactful technology possible, and 4) the most financially viable offering possible. ”

    How much did they pay for someone to come up with this sales pitch? “IMPACTFUL”???

    IMAX will not be here. They have already refused.

  21. WHAT IS IMAX? The high-definition digital feature has been installed mostly at multiplex cinemas and is not utilized for screens as large as the one planned for the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Officials say they could modify it. LOCAL

    This is in this afternoon’s paper. Now the IMAX in Wisconsin is seven stories tall and absolutely huge. So where is the JS getting their information that this one is not going to be as big as the rest of the IMAX theatres? I don’t know about the rest of you but the more this goes on the deeper it gets.

  24. In reference to the link Karrie put up there; When people think of IMAX they are thinking of the IMAX Dome theatre like what is in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The IMAX Dome theatres use proprietary technology that is highly specialized and requires a movie be filmed with those special cameras (so a film is shot twice). You won’t see any of those Hollywood movies in the Dome. The Dome’s are iconic but have proved to be money losers.

    IMAX today, is pushing a 21st version of Panavision and essentially walking away from the Dome format. The MPX format allows a film to be shot once and then digitally mastered for the MPX screen. All of which is a heck of a lot cheaper to produce than a Dome format film.

    While super jumbo screens might be impressive in their own right, I think the public would be disappointed overall if it wasn’t a Dome theatre.

  25. Mahkno: Just like your comment at the PJStar website … CFRS shared with taxpayers that IMAX was ‘no longer courtying museums’ pre-referendum … in my opinion, taxpayers are still trying to figure out that the pea is under which shell?

  26. There is absolutely no valid reason that the City Council can’t give the project a conditional approval, that is until the end of the year, which would give the Ranburg, Beasley and Richerson 4 months or so to reach a contractual agreement with IMAX, bring that back to their partners and then everyone could agree to move forward. That approach seems to me to make the most sense, let the Museum folks show the community that they’re able to deliver on their promises, let the City show that they’re willing to agree to move forward but that they need the museum folks to keep up to their commitments.

    This whole spin by the Museum folks about wanting to insure that they have the best and latest technology is nothing but a cover up for their lack of action. They’re already spent over $12 million, which would all be down the drain, what was another $1m illion to lock up an IMAX contract. Never in the 10 years leading up to this point, have any of these folks brought up the issue that something other than IMAX might be the preferred option, never have they stated that they needed to go to some national conference on large screen theaters to learn more about the options, it just procrastination on their part and the Council needs to hold them accountable. That’s one of CAT’s basic values, accountability, and they need to hold the Museum Group to that standard as well. I’d rather wait 4 months before giving them an unconditional approval, let’s be sure we know what we’re going to get here.

  27. Just a Thought….Why not just scrap the whole project before anymore money is spent and wasted like $12 million already, repeal the tax, giving Peoria County businesses a break, and put the lot up for sale? Maybe nudge CAT to buy a corner of it and let a developer develop the land. In the mean time, make it into a green area with some picnic tables and some ornamental lighting using some of the funds already on hand.

    Tell Lakeview to start planning on an upgrade and addition to their museum already centrally located in Peoria on Lake Street and raise funds to make it the jewel of the center of the city with a larger, revamped planetarium with a viewing lawn to set up telescopes for star party’s.

    Like the Build the Block people have said: people will come in droves.

  29. “to reach a contractual agreement with IMAX”

    HELLOOOOO???

    There is no contract to be made with IMAX. They have already announced they are not coming here.

  30. Most of us here know there never was, is not now, and likely never will be a contract with IMAX. So, what does that leave at the PRM to draw “thousands” of tourists from outside the area?
    Gary Panetta had an interesting blog post the other day, which some of you may have missed. He really hits the nail on the head. In case you missed it, find it here:
    http://blogs.pjstar.com/panetta/2010/08/17/downtown-museum-publicity-needs-focus/
    Here’s what I found interesting there:
    “The Lakeview effort would have been greatly helped from the beginning if leaders had been able to communicate in a single, short, declarative sentence (of about newspaper headline length) what the museum was supposed to be about. To do that would have required some central exhibit, some central theme that the public really cares about which would tie everything together.”

    And yes, the lone comment is mine.

  31. I can’t help but think of a brand name like Dave and Busters…. seemed like a several people went with a similar concept downtown without the name… ask them how their investment did?

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