Charleston City Manager Bill Riebe narrated the tour
of Charleston. Riebe said the city would like Eastern Illinois University
to develop its proposed 10,000-seat convocation center near the southeast
corner of Lincoln Avenue and University Drive. The center would host
concerts and athletic events.
EIU's Campus Master plan proposes that
the area west of Fourth Street, south of Lincoln, be used for the
convocation center. The city would like to see a "campustown"
area of high-density residential and commercial buildings developed in
this area, he said.
Riebe said the city also hopes to create
a commercial corridor on the south side of Illinois Route 16, east of
Illinois Route 130, by establishing a new tax increment financing district
in this area. "We see that as really igniting commercial
and residential growth on the east side of Charleston," Riebe said.
Ted Weidner, EIU's director of facilities
planning and management, narrated the campus tour. Weidner said EIU would like to purchase
property along Ninth Street, east Of
campus, and give it to developers for the construction of apartment
buildings for single or married students. This would allow the apartment
buildings to stay On local tax rolls, he said.
The tour in Charleston also included
EIU, Advance Building Systems, Arkwright, Celotex, the Eastern Illinois
Railroad, Haz -Stor, Hi-Cone, J.J. Collins, Lester Building Systems, Trace
Incorporated, Trailmobile and Vesuvius.
Lois Vonderheide, a Mattoon city commissioner,
started her narration of the Mattoon tour by discussing the potential of
the area around Interstate 57. She said 15,000 vehicles pass everyday
through the intersection of Route 16 and the Loxa Road.
Vonderheide said much of the development
around the interstate has been concentrated in the McFall/Swords
properties, noting that Mattoon now has more than 600 motel and hotel
rooms. Wendy's is planning to move to a site closer to the interstate near
Cody's Road House, she said.
The tour in Mattoon also included Ampad,
Anamet Electrical, Blaw-Knox, General Electric, Illinois Consolidated
Telephone Co., Justrite Manufacturing, Kal Kan, Lender's Bagel Bakery,
Mattoon Precision Manufacturing, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Rural
King Supply and U.S. Soy
