Officials from 7 cities talk about economic development challenges at State of the Cities luncheon

Ottawa Mayor Robb Hasty said his city would love to attract its own department-sized home improvement store, similar to a Home Depot or Menards.

To do so, however, he knows Ottawa would need more construction.

“That starts with more rooftops,” Hasty said. “That’s probably one of our biggest needs in Ottawa.”

Hasty’s comments were a response Wednesday to a question directed at the seven mayors in attendance at the Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the Cities Luncheon at the Grand Bear Resort in Utica. Mayors Jeff Grove of La Salle, Ken Kolowski of Peru, Melanie Malooley-Thompson of Spring Valley, Jason Curran of Oglesby, David Stewart of Utica, Annie Short on behalf of David Boelk of Mendota and Hasty all gave presentations on their communities, followed by a pair of questions submitted to the chamber.

The question asked the mayors to identify their communities’ biggest need, whether it be retail or industry, and elaborate on how their teams were closing that gap.

“We’ve had realtors tell us if we just had homes available, they would be able to sell them,” Hasty said.

He said the city has put the infrastructure in place for development along Route 71, including adding townhomes, duplexes and “nicer housing,” and also commercial development.

Stewart said for Utica, development on Interstate 80 is a continued goal.

“We see that there is a need there for a hotel,” said Stewart, noting the challenge is convincing developers of the need.

He said Utica also sees similar housing challenges to Ottawa.

“A house goes on sale, it’s sold today, or even before it goes on the market by word-of-mouth,” Stewart said. “It seems like it would be a major opportunity to expand with a subdivision.”

Grove said La Salle has put much of its focus on improving downtown and utilizing incentives such as sales tax reimbursements, facade improvement grants and tax increment financing districts. He said there is some potential for development of an area along Route 178 near Interstate 80 that’s technically within La Salle.

Kolowski said he’s been on the front line of trying to attract popular chains, such as Popeyes, Chick-fil-A or Five Guys and he said the first question those developers ask is what the community’s population is.

“I said, ‘What do you care?‘” Kolowski said. “I said, I put money in the bank, I don’t measure population. Peru’s sales tax was $730 million this year. There was $75 million in one month retail in Peru. That’s how you get their attention. So, it can be done. You just have to sell it differently and that’s the key.”

Curran said Oglesby under Mayor Don Finley was able to get a grocery store to purchase land inside the city but when it came time to develop it, those developers looked at the market analysis and didn’t move forward.

“What we did about six or seven months ago is we approved a new incentivize program to stimulate more homes to build,” said Curran, which resulted in two homes.

Thompson said Spring Valley also has improved its infrastructure and incentivized downtown development.

The mayors also answered a question Wednesday about attracting overnight visitors to the region.