Dixon City Council OKs $4.8 million infrastructure work for Gateway Project

DIXON – The Dixon City Council approved a $4.8 million contract for the Gateway Project infrastructure buildout.

The Gateway Project is a commercial development expected to bring gas stations, restaurants and at least one hotel to the Interstate 88 corridor.

The 27-acre site along South Galena Avenue across from Walmart between Keul and Bloody Gulch roads broke ground in April with the plan to construct a dozen buildings.

[ Realizing the vision: Gateway Project breaks ground in Dixon ]

Site work to level the ground started shortly after but was delayed because developers had to redraw plans to accommodate a second gas station. The council approved final amended plat lines for the project in September.

It’s being developed by Xsite Real Estate of Burr Ridge and Walsh Partners of Elmhurst. Xsite is the developer of Presidential Parkway Plaza, the four-building project north of Walmart along the south side of Keul Road. The city, the Lee County Industrial Development Association and Sauk Valley Bank also are partners in the project.

In 2020, the city won a $1 million grant from the state Opportunity Zone program for the infrastructure work, and state officials secured $2 million in capital grants last year, as well.

The council voted Wednesday to award Oregon-based Martin & Co. Excavating the contract for the infrastructure work.

Martin & Co. provided the lowest bid at about $4.87 million, which came in about $600,000 above the engineer’s estimate for the work.

Mayor Li Arellano Jr. said he’s glad to see the project moving along after years of planning, preparation and financing.

In 2021, the council approved annexation agreements across 657 acres, including land for the Gateway Project, after years of working with landowners and developers to open up new opportunities in the area.

The Gateway project will be in one of two new tax increment financing districts the city created. It will be in the Fargo Creek TIF, which has boundaries roughly covering First Street to the north, Peoria and Chicago avenues to the east, I-88 to the south and Depot Avenue and Pump Factory Road to the west. The other is the Industrial Park TIF south of I-88, between South Galena Avenue and U.S. Route 52.

The Gateway project is expected to create more than 600 jobs and $1 million a year in new tax revenue.

Businesses taking up shop in the Gateway footprint are yet to be announced.