Developers: Sterling’s riverfront playground, splash pad could be finished by end of June

STERLING — Sterling’s Riverfront Commission met on Wednesday to discuss various updates on the progress of the city’s $300 million multiphase Riverfront Reimagined project.

In addition to the city’s new riverfront 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 riverfront park

The yet-to-be-named park at the former Northwestern Steel and Wire Mill site will include a multiage, accessible playground, a splash pad, an ice skating ribbon, a plaza, a park shelter, a stage facility and restrooms. The city awarded a $4.7 million bid to Sjostrom and Sons Inc. of Rockford on Sept. 16 and expects the majority of the work will be finished by June, with a tentative opening the following month.

Strand Associates project manager Zach Simpson said the park’s first phase of construction has progressed to pouring the footings and foundation for the shelter. He said the project site has been cleared, stripped and mass grading has been completed.

“The next task is going to be installation of underground utilities, specifically the services for the building, so water and sewer,” Simpson said. “They’ve been planning to do that each Monday of the last two weeks. It’s going to happen any day now, they’ve just been pressed with the weather.”

Simpson said he expects the playground and splash pad to be available by late June, and phases two and three have now been consolidated to include completion of the amphitheater, ice skating ribbon and parking lots later this year.

“I would anticipate that they would likely start with storm sewer, in late summer, early fall, which wouldn’t impact the splash pad area, and then likely working on mass grading in the parking area,” Simpson said. “There’s a four- or five- month lead time for the refrigeration equipment for the ice ribbon. So that pushes that back to September, October.”

Hotelier interest

Ron Clewer of developer Gorman & Co. said several hoteliers have expressed possible interest in developing hotels at the Lawrence Bros. and National sites, including representatives from Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and two local hoteliers, one of whom wants to put a budget hotel between the existing buildings and the riverfront park. However, Clewer said a few concerns could conflict with that project.

“One, the Stanley site remediation is not yet done and signed off on,” Clewer said. “Two, they want to put it in the parking lot, which has been capped to secure the environmental conditions there, and that would mean it reopens that parking lot to environmental challenges that they would have to accept. For the time being, that is something that is an interesting concept, but I think it’s too early to say we want to commit to doing that.”

Clewer said the other hotelier owns and operates hotels throughout the region in addition to other real estate besides hotels. He said they envision a Hilton on the Lawrence site because of the “broad rewards program” that Hilton offers.

A common request that Clewer has received is investors wanting to get an inside tour of the buildings. To help them get a better picture, he said that a company has been hired to create a “fly-through” video of the building using a drone. The video is still in its draft form and when finished, will feature voiceovers from local officials.

River Edge designation

Earlier this year, Sterling’s lobbyist, Matt Hughes of MRH Solutions, filed two state bills, House Bill 1919 and Senate Bill 1309, as part of his strategy to secure a designation that, if approved, could provide almost $50 million in tax incentives through the riverfront work the city already has started.

In February, Hughes told the Sterling City Council that the bills must be out of committee in both the House and Senate by Friday, March 21, and must pass both chambers by Friday, April 11. He said the city of Alton had also been added to the legislation per recommendations from Rep. Maurice West.

On April 2, Sterling Mayor Diana Merdian told the Riverfront Reimagined Commission that Sterling’s House Bill 1919 had passed out of both subcommittees.

“It was a unanimous decision out of the subcommittee, and then the revenue committee, and I believe it’s had its second reading,” Merdian said. “The plan is that it will be put into the budget package because that is where similar bills like that go. We also have our Senate bill, which is our Plan B, and we’re running both of them to make sure that we have as many chances as we can, to make sure we get this designation.”

Merdian said they are now waiting to see if HB 1919 makes it through negotiations for the state’s proposed budget for fiscal 2026.

“Those negotiations don’t happen out in the open, so that’s why we are doing the Senate bill as a back-up plan,” Merdian said. “The hope is that in May, we will have the designation and be ready to start the DCEO application. That is, we have to have a map, we have to have a public hearing. We have to have the ordinance, or the information that stays up for so many days, and we have to have everything on the national registry.”

The River Edge Redevelopment Zone Act is legislation encouraging economic growth through redevelopment and revitalization projects that are typically in areas along waterfronts. RERZ provides tax incentives for investors and municipalities.

According to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, once a city is designated, certain areas are allocated as a “River Edge Redevelopment Zone.” Investors and businesses that develop in these zones are eligible for several tax incentives, including property tax abatements and sales tax exemptions.