Horace Mann moving forward with parking lot, DiCenso calls action 'shameful'

Steven Spearie, State Journal-Register
·4 min read
Demolition work began Wednesday on a building at 618 E. Washington St. Horace Mann is pressing forward on a redevelopment plan which would be a private and public green space/parking lot. Another building at 622 E. Washington St. has already been demolished.
Demolition work began Wednesday on a building at 618 E. Washington St. Horace Mann is pressing forward on a redevelopment plan which would be a private and public green space/parking lot. Another building at 622 E. Washington St. has already been demolished.

Horace Mann Educators Corp. officials said they were moving forward with redevelopment plans in the 600 block of East Washington Street that calls for the demolition of a building in a downtown historic district, much to the chagrin of Springfield preservationists.

A day closing on ownership of the building, they said they were pressing on with a green space/parking lot for private and public use, as demolition began on a second building in the block.

The building at 622 E. Washington St. is already entirely demolished. Work has begun on the building at 618 E. Washington St. that is in the Central Springfield Historic District.

More: Heritage foundation loses bid to slow down Horace Mann's East Washington Street project

Horace Mann higher-ups had been meeting with representatives from the Downtown Springfield Heritage Foundation over the past three months to discuss alternatives for the building.

Don Carley, Horace Mann's executive vice president and general counsel, said while he appreciated the time the foundation put into creating proposals for the building, no willing investor stepped forward.

“Unfortunately, given the condition of the building brought on by more than a decade of vacancy, the cost to remediate the asbestos in the building and the dramatic increase in labor and materials, restoration of the building is not economically viable," Carley said in a statement released late Tuesday afternoon. "In light of their interest, Horace Mann offered to purchase and donate the building to the Heritage Foundation, but they cannot take on the building or its liability absent an investor to manage the project, assume the liability risk and shoulder the financial cost of the project.”

Dave Leonatti, a Springfield architect and vice president of the Heritage Foundation, said he wasn't surprised Horace Mann continued with demolition and that the company, outside of meeting with his group, has shown "little interest in being a good downtown neighbor."

Leonatti said Horace Mann unilaterally walked away from the discussions with the Heritage Foundation.

"Their statement regarding the demolition project is disingenuous at best," Leonatti said. "The Heritage Foundation did not own the (618 building), so we were not in a position to market it.  As they began demolition the day after they released their statement and a Historic Sites Committee meeting, we find it unlikely Mr. Carley was seeking an investor."

The Heritage Foundation, Leonatti added, was willing to take the building on. It provided numerous proposals and plans, including images and financial and funding options.

"These were all rejected," he said.

In a Feb. 21 vote, the Springfield City Council gave Horace Mann $600,000 in tax increment financing (TIF) funds to help pay for the tear down of both buildings. Those funds came from the Central Area TIF.

An artist's rendering of Horace Mann's redevelopment plan in the 600 block of East Washington Street in downtown Springfield.
An artist's rendering of Horace Mann's redevelopment plan in the 600 block of East Washington Street in downtown Springfield.

Some, including Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley, wanted a reconsideration of the vote two weeks later, but that idea went nowhere.

Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso, who voted against the plan, called Horace Mann's plan "shameful."

"This could have gone another way," DiCenso told The State Journal-Register Wednesday. "The last thing we need downtown is another parking lot."

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin had joined DiCenso in a "no" vote.

During the March 7 reconsideration vote, McMenamin said it was "a huge mistake" to use TIF funds to tear down buildings.

In a letter to Mayor Jim Langfelder and city council members, Quinn Adamowski, regional advocacy manager for Landmarks Illinois, noted that authorizing TIF funds demolition would violate state law.

The Heritage Foundation had called for a partial demolition on the back side of the structure at 622 E. Washington St., stabilization of the buildings and a smaller sleeve of parking.

Officials from Horace Mann, the Springfield-headquartered insurance company, planned to put nearly $2 million into the tear down and construction of the "beautification project" to complement the $2 million purchase and renovation of the Witmer-Schuck building at the southwest corner of Seventh and Washington streets. The building, which dates from 1867, has commercial/retail space on the first floor and corporate residences on the second and third floors.

They also indicated that a number of the 28 parking spots will be available to the community free of charge during the evenings and weekends.

Mayor Jim Langfelder, reached Wednesday, said he hasn't authorized the developer's agreement. That's what was incumbent upon the TIF funds, he added.

"The question is what's (the public's) accessibility to the property and what does that entail?" Langfelder said. "I would have preferred that (Horace Mann) waited to give the Heritage Foundation the opportunity, but they wanted to see things move faster, and I understand that."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Horace Mann is moving forward with a controversial development project in Springfield IL