I didn’t get a chance to go to that meeting last night about Sheridan Village. But in talking about it with some friends, it made me wonder why another big box grocery store is opening up in that part of town. You have Kroger right across the street in Evergreen Square. And you have Schnuck’s just up the road at Glen and University. Isn’t it inevitable that one of the existing stores will close? Meanwhile, South Peoria has almost no grocery service at all.
I thought I’d check out some recent supermarket history, and culled the following timeline from Journal Star articles (closures in bold):
- Early 1994 — Cub Foods opens at Glen Hollow Shopping Center.
- Nov. 1996 — New Kroger (54,000-60,000 square feet reported) opens in Evergreen Square — replaces old, 27,000-square-foot Kroger in Evergreen Square.
- 9/16/1998 — Super Wal-Mart opens on East Peoria riverfront.
- 11/9/1999 — Schnuck’s (reportedly 87,000 square feet) opens at Glen and University. They tried for years to build a store at Glen and Sheridan, but were pushed back by neighbors and environmentalists. One of the big arguments against that site: it’s right across the street from another established grocery store, Ben Schwartz.
- 12/31/1999 — Ben Schwartz, Sheridan and Glen, closes.
- 3/2/2000 — Eagle Country Markets, 1401 W. Glen, closes (Chapter 11 bankruptcy)
- 8/12/2002 — Cub Foods (65,000 square feet) opens at Midtown Plaza on Knoxville. Developer David Joseph got $5.5 million in city incentives for this project and eminent domain power to wrest away little old ladies’ homes on Dechman. This project was going to “revitalize the East Bluff.”
- 9/25/2002 — John Bee Food Shop, 3419 N. Prospect Road, closes, citing big box grocery store competition. “‘When the first Cub store opened, things started turning downhill for independents; it became a trickle down effect,’ he [owner John Barnhart] said. ‘We did manage to survive them, but then came Schnuck’s. And the SuperWalMart came in and it was a big kick in the head.'”
- 11/15/2002 — Sullivan’s (formerly Thompson Food Basket) on Knoxville and in Campustown both close.
Now Hy-Vee is coming to Sheridan Village, right across the street from another supermarket. How does this serve the needs of the people in the immediate area or Peorians in general?
How does it serve the needs of Peorians? It doesn’t. But, if Hy-Vee wants to go there, I don’t know of a way to stop it, as it’s already zoned for that sort of use.
There’s always complaints regarding the “planning” of the city, or lack of the same. Someone tell me how the city could “plan” this development away… and closer to the south end.
Actually, it requires a zoning change. It’s on the Zoning Commission’s agenda for tonight’s meeting at 6:00:
Vision and leadership. The council just gave Sheridan Village enterprise-zone status. They’re incentivizing this development! If they wanted development to go to the south side, they would incentivize development there. No enterprise zone on the south side. That’s just one example.
Oh, but CJ, why bother putting an enterprise zone in the south end? It’s just a bunch of useless drug dealers anyway. Who cares if they have to drive across town to get groceries?
I’m personally excited to have a HyVee coming. My father in law lives in Quincy and we’ve been to the HyVee there several times – it’s a great store with reasonable prices and alot of services. As a central Peoria resident, I am also excited to have it so close to home. But the thing is, do I truly need *five* grocery stores within a 5 minute drive of my home? (Kroger on Sterling, Kroger at Evergreen Square, Schnucks, Cub Foods and now HyVee)
Since I don’t live or work in the south end, I never visited the grocery store that recently closed there, but I was sorry to hear that it closed. The owner was an independent gentleman who opened the store without asking for any kind of incentives and was basically forced to close over the city’s demands that he pay off duty police officers for security. Yet a big company comes in, gets enterprise zone status and a great big fancy store. Hmm… does sound a little fishy to me. However, Bartonville isn’t that far away from where the grocery store the closed was located, same for the EP Wal-Mart and Haddads in West Peoria.
Here’s the bottom line… why couldn’t the HyVee have been put in a different location that’s not as well served such as the south end or in the Festival Foods building or one of the big open box stores on Pioneer Park?
OOPS!! There was supposed to be an [/sarcasm] after my comment about the south end being full of drug dealers. I guess the site read it as me using HTML. WHOOPS!
My statement was meant in jest towards the image that many people may have of the south side and not as a serious or sincere comment. There are many more hard working people that live there than there are a criminal element… the criminal element just gets more publicity than the hard working folks.
“8/12/2002 — Cub Foods (65,000 square feet) opens at Midtown Plaza on Knoxville. Developer David Joseph got $5.5 million in city incentives for this project and eminent domain power to wrest away little old ladies’ homes on Dechman. This project was going to “revitalize the East Bluff.” ”
This has not “revitalized” any part of the East Bluff. All that has come from this is a Popeyes chicken , built in the one of the 2 outlots, no fixed up homes due to this tif,no investment in the surrounding neighborhoods, I remember the statement “revitalize the East Bluff” said by current and past council persons. But where has it?
What further baffles me is the proposed new supermarket North of Alta which is rumored to be another Schnucks! I could see Hy-Vee going out there to distance itself from overlapping stores along with the services they supposedly are bringing…but Sheridan Village???
I not sure of the reasoning of Hy-Vee to locate in Sheridan Village, but I worked for them for 8 Years and they will kick Krogers overpriced undifferentiated a**, Schnucks is the closest competitor to HV model but too expensive. When I first moved here 5 years ago I thought they would do well here because the existing stores are fairly weak. I think HV corporate knows they can pull customers from the others quickly. They also run very strong against WM with excellent service. Still, I am surprised they are not going North Peoria also. There must be an excellent incentive package from the city.
I’m with you, Mike, from what I’ve seen of Quincy’s HyVee. They have good prices (Schuncks’ prices are overinflated, Kroger’s aren’t unreasonable, but could be better), great services (big floral department, eat in deli, specialty food) and they run good stores.
I too am excited that they are coming, but surprised they went to Sheridan Village. Since that’s where it’s going, I suppose we could be grateful to see some development coming to the village, though. It’s depressing to see it the way it is with all the empty stores.
And to suggest a grocery store would redevelop a neighborhood is a load of garbage. What would really help redevelop these neighborhoods would be to offer the HOMEOWNERS some of these nice tax breaks and other incentives to fix up their houses and to get more homeowners down there instead of renters. I’m not putting down the good renters – I rented from early 2000 til last February – but the renters that trash the houses and thus the neighborhoods are not helping the bluffs redevelop. A grocery store will not do jack to encourage people to move to an area, if anything it will DIScourage people to move there.
I seem to recall some council members suggesting “neighborhood TIFs” during their first election campaigns. All we’ve gotten is more tax breaks for businesses.
As fas as the city ignoring the South Side, we DO have the Eagle View TIF, as well as the Warehouse District TIF. Nothing’s come of either one yet, but I’m hopeful. Both seem better designed than previous TIFs and aren’t being driven by Big Box development. Both are mostly geared toward fixing infrastructure issues.
As long as the taxpayers aren’t subsidizing it, the City has no business deciding whether a grocery store is needed is Sheridan Village or not. We are not (yet) a socialist planned economy. If Hy Vee wants to give it shot, they have every right to do so, at their risk. Besides, does anyone really believe the clowns that inhabit City Hall have any clue about locating businesses? Most of those people couldn’t find their way out of brown paper grocery bag.
I doubt that Cub was a real factor in the Campustown Sullivan’s closure. There is a real need for a REAL grocery store in Campustown. Sav a Lot is a joke.
Yep, someone wants to fix up an old building and put in a supermarket on the southside. The city heaps all kinds of crap on this guy and makes him pay for security. The store goes bust. Nothing but another empty building and nothing done again for the southside. yep, fix the older neighborhoods and ignore the southside completely. Our councilman sits like a bump on a log while other council members fight for their districts for money projects. We need new representation in District 1.
HyVee choose this location they were not “put there” be someone.
There are at least five different places around this same area that sell pizza also but no one is complaining we don’t need another pizza place. This is how the free market works. If this new store happens to result in another one (Kroger) closing then I guess HyVee and Schnucks wins but I don’t think that will happen. These guys don’t come into a market with the sole purpose of putting someone else out of business they come into a market to try and give consumers the best product at the best price. The consumer is who wins. Do we really want our folks at city hall telling us which stores we can and cannot have?
Emtronics,
The guy putting the store in on the southside was weak to begin with.
You missed my point mahkno. The point was that nothing is directed towards the southside by this city and when it is, it has so many strings attached, it has to fail. Please, tell me why the guy on the southside was weak? If I recall, there was nothing but praise for this guy on this blog and others for him to succeed and some that didn’t want him at all because he wanted to sell liquor.
Mouse,
What do you call an enterprise zone? I call it a subsidy – from you and from me the tax payer. And I think it could be to the tune of about 1 million dollars!
George (original),
How do you arrive at your $1 million figure? The most common Enterprise Zone incentive utilized in Peoria is the one-time abatement of sales taxes on the purchase of building materials. The buyer can save as much as 8% total sales tax if the materials are purchased in Illinois. The City of Peoria’s share of that is 2.5% and only on materials purchased within the city. Just for an example, let’s look at a $10 million new building. Roughly half of the cost is for labor and the other half is for materials. $10 million x 50% is $5 million. 8% of $5 million is $400,000. The city’s share (2.5% of the 8%) is $125,000 and only if the building materials are purchased within the city. That’s a far cry from your claim of $1 million.
The new, recurring property taxes, sales taxes, and utility taxes quickly compensate and pay for the sales tax abatement. In addition, new jobs are created and additional good and services (more choices) are made available to public.
Interesting fact sheets from the New Rules project regarding Big Box Retail and local government incentive.
http://www.bigboxtoolkit.com/index.php/Fact-Sheets/
Oooh…. Have I got under your skin Councilman Manning?
Bob- Get real. The city is subsidizing this project. Plain and simple. The city has no plan, no vision and you, dear Councilman could do a better job. I can’t wit to spar with you on the topic of city vision and planning. You are out of your league!
And by the way Bob- when was the last time you built a multi million dollar project- NEVER!!!!
George (the original not Jacob), c’mon, I’m pretty sure you’re an adult, act like one. There’s no need to act like a child.
George —
Take a breath. I was simply asking how you arrived at the $1 million dollar figure you threw out. Obviously you were using different figures, rates, or assumptions than what I used. Just show us your math.
5.5 million in city incentives for Midtown Plaza, what have we recieved as a “spin off” from that? Increased tax base? NO. Outside of the TIF investment? NO.
The Midtown and Campustown TiFs are great examples of why the past Councils should have said “NO.”
Do any of the city council members suffer electorally for all of this? No.
Who is running in the spring of ’09 ?
A child? In what what way? Review any of my previos posts- not a child, although I do appreciate being carded every once in a while 😉
Bob,
Was at the meeting the other night. Please help the surrounding neighborhoods have better pedestrian access to the village. A sidewalk running down the East side of Sheridan behind Knoll Crest subdivision between Knoll Crest Drive and Dairy Queen would help our family navigate over to the Village to shop at the new HyVee. If a crosswalk for pedestrians with a walk/don’t walk light could be placed at the intersection/entrance to the Village off Sheridan the neighborhoods of Knoll Crest and the Knolls would get lots of use out of it.
Thanks.
I’m opposed to all TIFs and enterprise zones out of principle because they interfere with the free market and they give government the power to pick and choose the winners.
Obviously, some of these schemes are less offensive than others, and some make at least a little sense. The warehouse district TIF and Eagle View come to mind, but even they are have been subject to mission drift. Both these TIFs seem to pass the “but-for” test — meaning that nothing would happen there without a TIF.
My HUGE problem with MidTown Plaza is that the city used eminent domain powers to help force homeowners to sell to make way for a privately-owned strip mall.
And complain all you want to about this council, they haven’t done that anytime recently. And I know there have been attempts.
My problem with the enterprise zones is that they are NOT being used in the poorest section of town, but to help keep existing businesses who threaten to leave. I’d like to see the council show a little more testicular fortitude under these threats.
“Do any of the city council members suffer electorally for all of this (MidTown Plaza, etc.)? No.”
It may have hurt Gale Thetford – and helped Bob Manning.
My View of the proposed changes to Sheridan Village -Submitted by Beth Akeson
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 a meeting was held at the Fashion Bug regarding the upcoming proposed changes to Sheridan Village. The invitees were neighbors surrounding Sheridan Village and current Sheridan Village business people.
Kristie Gorenz, the President of the Knolls Subdivision Association, requested the meeting. Bob Manning, the city’s third district Council person, agreed to gather together the necessary parties.
At first blush, the willingness of Bob Manning to host the meeting was a good sign; however, I discovered later, the Emmes Group and Hy-Vee representatives were coming to town anyway for this evening’s Zoning Commission meeting.
To become better informed I spent an afternoon in Sheridan Village at the downtown library. I discovered that Sheridan Village, over the course of time, has never really ever lived up to the expectations of the various owners. Since it was built the owners have tried to tweak its personae. Sheridan has seen a variety of changes and tenants have come and gone, however, the bottom line is no one has ever asked the neighbors what businesses they would like to have in Sheridan Village. Rarely are we asked what we would prefer.
Assumptions are made and demographics are studied. Corporations make assumptions and economists draw conclusions. However, unless you live in town, and listen to what people want, it is impossible to deliver what we need.
We do not need another average grocery store. We do not need another run of the mill shopping center. We will not linger in a place that repels. Granted, some will choose to shop in a place with lower prices and better service- but that will not compel you to stay, walk, and shop. Peoria is without anyplace for people to congregate, linger, and create community.
Where can you go to meet your neighbor, have a cup of coffee, enjoy a glass of wine, and pass the time of day? We have become accustomed to waving as we drive by in our cars. We lack a sense of community and what plans do we see for a solution?
Sheridan Village could become more of a destination. It could be a place with sidewalk cafes and more locally owned shops. It could even be a place with a small personal grocery- even a Hy-Vee. Just not the 85,000 square foot mega store- aimed at competing with Wal-Mart.
It will take a change of attitude and a concerted effort by the city to show Hy-Vee, Emmes and the neighborhood associations that Peoria is willing to step up and make our city unique and respect the character of the neighborhoods. Email your council person and the at large council people – let them know you care and that another nondescript, big box format store is not in the best interest of our city.
George [the original] – Where do you come up with the $1 mil figure?
Diane and Bob-
The Million $ figure was a “could be” figure. I mentioned it to simply show the percentage of a projects cost multiplied by the tax percentage is a very high number.
I want to bring to light we are subsidizing the cost of many projects- and at a high price.
I do not think one million dollars is a stretch when attempting to gauge the cost of the subsidies. We need to get more for our dollar than is currently being delivered!
Perhaps this has been mentioned… but has anyone shopped the different Krogers or Aldis on the South or West side and on the North side?
The stores are better maintained, the produce fresher, the meat is nice and overall the quality and service are better on the North side stores…
… just an observation… if I lived on the south side, I wouldn’t go to those stores anyway… oh I do live on the south side and shop at the Kroger on Sheridan or the Aldi and Kroger on Sterling…
Well this may be all moot. The City of Peoria, in it’s usual fashion is now demanding all kinds of little tweaks for the new Hy-Vee. They want the store to look like the front from the back because it is Sheridan Village. They also want some added sidewalks. If this holds true to form, Peoria will run these guys off before a single hole gets drilled.
“Where can you go to meet your neighbor, have a cup of coffee, enjoy a glass of wine, and pass the time of day….
Sheridan Village could become more of a destination. It could be a place with sidewalk cafes and more locally owned shops.”
Obviously has never owned a restaurant.
Sheridan Village already has a place like that called Panache. How many places like that can one shopping center support? Add the “outside seating” surcharge to your liquor license and a lot of owners balk at it because how many days per year in Peoria can you sit outside and enjoy the day? Do those extra days support the additional cost? Maybe that is why you don’t see much of this concept in Peoria. Throw $15-20-25 a square foot costs and triple net leases at prospective owners and it is no wonder “small little independents” don’t exist. You have to be amazingly successful or independently wealthy.
Beth,
Sounds all good but we have places like that. Shoppes Grand Prairie, Metro to some degree, RiverFront, downtown Peoria Heights etc. What the neighborhoods need is for the developer to make a reinvestment in the Village now because if they don’t you will see them start leasing all of those empty spaces up to whatever business will pay them rent.
It this project does not make economic sense for them they will not do it! Then what have we gained?
One more thing. At the meeting the neighbors seemed genuinely excited about the plans. Most of those attending were from around the area like Knoll Crest and the Knolls and the Stratford Drive area. They have seen the decline of Sheridan Village and are excited to see the renovations finally. The liquor issue wasn’t even an issue and was barely brought up.
There were very few negative comments made except for Mrs. Akeson’s. I am not sure what area of town she lives in but as a close neighbors of this project I am very excited to see it happen and if it gets screwed up because of one person or commission I will be very upset.
I am a recent Chicago to Peoria transplant. Regarding the outdoor cafe issue, I would agree that there is a dearth of cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating in Peoria. I would also agree that these sorts of venues, along with ways to get to them without getting in you car, enhance the quality of life inand attractiveness of a neighborhood in a way that should not be ignored. The cost/tax v. benefit issue here in Peoria raised by Chef Kevin must be quite substantial, because these kinds of patios are bursting at the seams during the warmer months in Chicago, as short lived as those months may be. Pretty much any place that has the least bit of sidewalk space takes advantage of it by offering outdoor dining, and yes, this includes the small, independent places in residental neighborhoods. Frankly, it is one of things that I always thought made suffering through a Chicago winter tolerable. It was also one of my favorite things about living in various north side neighborhoods over the last 15 years.
Regarding the sidewalk issue raised by walkingfan, I actually e-mailed Bob Manning about the lack of one on the east side of Sheridan (and the south side of Lake east of Sheridan) when we first started looking at homes in the Knolls. I haven’t heard anything back. I liked the idea of being within walking distance of Panache, Ponte Vecchio, Krogers, Lakeview Park/Library etc, but was disappointed to find that the well maintained sidewalks within the Knolls will not take you anywhere OUT of the neighborhood safely.
Now, the city wants to put the burden of putting in sidewalks around the store on a prospective tenant, when the city itself has not placed sidewalks across the street to get customers to the other side of Sheridan in the first place? I am as strong of a proponent as you will find for walkable commerical spaces, but I find this sort of thinking puzzling at best.
The city also puts the burden of installing sidewalks on the people who live there – the people who have houses backing onto the east side of Sheridan or the south side of Lake – the people who may want to walk from the Knolls on sidewalks do not enter into the equation. The city asking a business – or the Sjeridan Village owner – to put in some sidewalks while the getting is good seems like a good idea. At least it’s a start.
There was a strip mall project recently on Willow Knolls that Bob Manning was pushing to include sidewalks. Pat Nichting balked at that – think they ended up voting for the strip mall to have an escrow account for future sidewalks.
Kramer:
the cost isn’t that prohibitive, but each restaurant owner has to weigh the pros and cons for him\her self. But, if it was so profitable, they’d all be doing it, right? Also, there are some shopping centers that do not allow that sort of thing…the sidewalks are for walking…not dining.
Chef Kevin, I so agree with
Kramer. Outdoor life in cities starts on the streets and sidewalks. Peoria has just not recognized the opportunity. When I moved to Peoria I thought it was because of the weather but,
I would much rather shop at a big box store than some of the smaller stores on your list that have closed. I shopped at Sullivan’s on Knoxville, for example, and found that they only sold green or gray meat. Yuk! I quit shopping there. I’m a label reader and found many times that both the Ben Schwartz and John Bee markets sold diary products, snack foods and the like which were close to the expiration date. So I quit shopping at those stores too.