Sterling Riverfront Foundation asks community to donate to riverfront park project

STERLING – The Riverfront Reimagined Commission provided several updates on Sterling’s riverfront projects during Wednesday’s commission meeting, including information on how people can invest in the city’s new riverfront park.

Riverfront park

Riverfront Commission co-Chairman Terry McGuire said that so far, the Riverfront Foundation has received more than $1 million in commitments from investors for the city’s yet-to-be-named riverfront park.

The Riverfront Foundation will host an informational meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Sterling Schools Foundation, 510 E. Miller Road, where businesses, families and individuals can learn how to provide tax-deductible donations to enhance the park’s amenities and features.

Frigid temperatures have prevented crews from pouring concrete for the park’s pavilion. However, Riverfront Commission co-Chairman Marc Geil said the park still is on schedule to open in the summer as long as the foundation footings get poured in the next few weeks.

The new park at the former Northwestern Steel and Wire Mill site is phase one of Sterling’s $300 million Riverfront Reimagined Project. The Sterling City Council on Sept. 16 awarded a $4.7 million bid for the construction of a park shelter, restrooms, stage facility, playground, splash pad and plaza to Sjostrom and Sons Inc. of Rockford.

In addition to the park, the Riverfront Reimagined plan could include an amphitheater, worker apartments, a hotel and events center, and a rooftop bar/restaurant for the four buildings at the Lawrence site. That could be followed by market-rate apartments, a fitness center and yet-to-be-determined uses of the National Manufacturing site.

The National roof

The National Manufacturing site’s roof had begun to leak to the point where the city was faced with fixing the problem or paying more money to deal with continuing water damage.

Originally, the repairs were estimated to cost more than $500,000. However, Ron Clewer of Gorman & Co. reported that Sterling Commercial Roofers has since inspected the roof and will complete the repairs for about $80,000.

The commission plans to redirect the money saved to help install banners over the windows of the Lawrence Bros. building. However, Clewer said that work cannot begin until further environmental remediation testing is completed by the city’s qualified environmental consultant, Fehr Graham Engineering & Environmental.

“Part of the hope is they’ll be able to remove the window frames because there’s contamination in the frames,” Clewer said. “Then, we could put the banners in the clear openings. If that work isn’t able to be done, then we would attach the banners to the existing frames, but the recommendation was not to move forward until after they determine the extent of what they could remove.”

The Riverfront Reimagined Commission plans to meet again Wednesday, April 2.