Out-of-state developer converts former Morrison hotel into apartments

MORRISON – An old eyesore along Route 30 in Morrison is getting a much-needed makeover.

Whiteside County Economic Development Director Gary Camarano said renovation work to the former Parkview Motel at 631 E. Lincolnway began in April. The building was purchased by first responder and real estate developer David Bader.

Bader had previously worked on several smaller real estate developments and was searching for a larger-scale project when he found the former Morrison hotel listed online.

“I had been looking for a while when this opportunity sort of fell into my lap,” Bader said. “After that, things started to align and fall into place. The biggest obstacles were trying to coordinate everything with contractors while searching for good property management.”

Camarano said work on the 23-unit apartment building is almost finished, and many apartments already have been leased.

“If you’ve seen that building before and after, you know that he’s made some incredible improvements, and it’s no longer a blight to the highway,” Camarano said. “It’s great that someone saw an opportunity, took it, didn’t cut any corners, and has put together a product that I hope will ignite some other people to start thinking there’s opportunity here.”

Camarano hopes the apartment complex will help address the area’s housing stock shortage, which he said is largely older and in need of updating.

“A lot of our employers have found that when they’re trying to hire someone in, say, senior management, health care, manufacturing, education or so on, some people would say, ‘I like the job. I just can’t find adequate housing for my family,‘” Camarano said. “If we’re going to expand and have a higher quality of life, we need to address this.”

The building is located within the Whiteside Carroll Enterprise Zone, which offers tax incentives and benefits to businesses that invest and develop within the region, including property tax abatements for new construction, sales tax exemption on building materials, utility tax breaks and more.

“He was able to take advantage of those incentives, which included a sales tax exemption on building materials used at the site and a five-year local property tax abatement for improvements to the property,” Camarano said.

Bader said he still has several units available for rent. Interested parties can call D&M Enterprises LLC at 815-590-9769 to learn more.