January 24, 2025
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Riverwalk development begins

By Lee Provost
Area leaders and officials gathered with community members to toss some dirt Wednesday at the official groundbreaking for Kankakee’s East Riverwalk project. The site, located on the southeast corner of East River Street and South Schuyler Avenue, has been in the works since 2017.

Area leaders and officials gathered with community members to toss some dirt Wednesday at the official groundbreaking for Kankakee’s East Riverwalk project. The site, located on the southeast corner of East River Street and South Schuyler Avenue, has been in the works since 2017. (Tiffany Blanchette)

KANKAKEE — One of the last things on the minds of Kankakee region occupants on this bone-chilling Wednesday was relaxing near the banks of the Kankakee River.

But the 1-acre location near the river banks immediately east of the South Schuyler Avenue and East River Street intersection is where city and area leaders gathered as the sun was about to set.

A project in the making since late 2017 has finally been put in motion.

Kankakee’s much-discussed East Riverwalk has begun.

The $5-million project, fortified with nearly $2 million of local, state and federal grant funding, officially began just before the sun was about to set as several shovel filled with dirt symbolically kicked off the project.

The Kankake riverwalk, which will be developed in eight phases stretching from the this East Riverwalk site and eventually to the Riverside Medical Center area — a span of four miles — began as a group of governmental leaders and residents took park in the ceremony.

Already wrapped in chainlink construction fencing, the project, which has endured many obstacles already, is set to move into long-awaited construction as the city seeks to use its chief natural resource in a greater fashion.

And while Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis has been the face of this project since taking the mayoral office in May 2021, there was another person at the event who dates back somewhat further with it.

Her name is Barbi Brewer-Watson.

Now the executive director of Kankakee’s Economic and Community Development Agency, Brewer-Watson was one of those first charged with bringing this project forward, then under the director of Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong.

Standing inside the neighboring Frank Lloyd Wright property as a gathering of about 100 sought an escape from the cold wind, Brewer-Watson spoke of how moved she was regarding the community’s support.

“This is a huge milestone,” she said of groundbreaking. “Tonight I’m very fulfilled. I’m very moved.”

So many naysayers said this groundbreaking event would never come to pass, she said.

“I took it as a personal, professional challenge,” she said before adding. “We’ve done this together.”

With a price tag of $5,004,315, the project awarded to Kankakee-based construction company Piggush-Simoneau, Inc., in late 2024, will now begin in earnest.

The goal is to have construction completed this year on the park-like project. The riverwalk to focus on the natural beauty and recreation the Kankakee River provides.

As spectators waited in the cold for the groundbreaking, the song “Rolling on the River” provided the background.

Curtis simply described the groundbreaking as not only an exciting event, but one which will be looked at in years to come as a memorable event.

While located in Kankakee, Curtis said this was not just about the city. He said the riverwalk and all the project yet to come in connection with its entirety, is about helping develop Kankakee County and the entire region.

Just as Bradley is making advances and Bourbonnais is investing in community, so is Kankakee. Together, he noted, these projects make the region better, more attractive.

He said he was questioned when he took office if the riverwalk development would continue or would it be shelved?

There was never a question, he said.

“This has to happen,” he said. “If it didn’t happen now, I don’t know when it would,” he said.

The four-mile stretch of riverfront eyed for transformation will take years to complete. Perhaps 25 to 30 years, he said.

“This isn’t just for the city of Kankakee. These are things people look for when they buy a home, look for a job. What is there around here to do?,” he said people ask when seeking a home.

Funding for construction has come through numerous sources:

• $850,000 — state grants;

• $522,500 — local tourism grants;

• $940,000 — Riverfront TIF district;

• $475,000 — federal grant;

• $1.15 million — Environmental Services Utilities infrastructure account;

• $421,000 — private giving;

• $421,800 — city’s capital projects fund;

• $246,500 — yet to be raised.

https://daily-journal.com/news/local/kankakee/riverwalk-development-begins/article_d4954f66-d8ca-11ef-9487-e3a805ad68f3.html