Over objections, city council approves redevelopment agreement for Horace Mann
Over the objections of the Downtown Springfield Heritage Foundation and Landmarks Illinois, the Springfield City Council Tuesday approved an ordinance that will give Horace Mann tax increment financing funds to demolish two buildings in the 600 block of East Washington Street.
Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin voted against the redevelopment agreement.
Donald Carley, executive vice president and general counsel at Horace Mann, and Tony Schuering of Brown, Hay & Stephens, serving as outside counsel for the insurance company headquartered in Springfield, said there was a large hole in the roof of one of the buildings and that both buildings were wracked with black mold, asbestos tiles and standing water that has pooled for years.
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The idea, Carley told the committee of the whole last week, was to tear down the two structures and create a green space with 28 parking spaces.
Horace Mann renovated the historic three-story Witmer-Schuck building that dates back to the 1860s at the southwest corner of Washington and Seventh streets. That building has commercial/retail space on the first floor. The company is remodeling the second and third floors for corporate residences.
The redevelopment's approval will give Horace Mann $600,000 in funds from the Central Area TIF.
DiCenso pulled the ordinance from the consent agenda and moved it to the debate floor. DiCenso said while she wasn't against the project, she had "concerns" about it.
DiCenso said when she met with Horace Mann officials, they had not met with the Historic Preservation Agency.
"I understand the want and need for parking. I get it, to be close and convenient, but the green space that was outlined in that presentation, it can hardly be called 'green space,'" DiCenso said.
In a letter to Mayor Jim Langfelder and city council members, Quinn Adamowski, regional advocacy manager for Landmarks Illinois, argued the building that abuts the Office of the Illinois Treasurer was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as "a contributing structure" to the Central Springfield Historic District.
Authorizing TIF funds for its demolition would violate state law, Adamowski added.
Dave Leonatti, the Heritage Foundation's vice president and an architect with Melotte-Morse-Leonatti Parker, Ltd., said the $600,000 in TIF money Horace Mann was seeking to cover demolition costs could be "better spent in stabilizing the existing structures, and allow (the foundation) and other entities to work together to find new owners that can develop an adaptive reuse plan that doesn’t level one-third of the block."
Representatives from the two groups did not speak at Tuesday's meeting.
McMenamin, who owns property downtown, said he had to turn around after getting five feet into one of the buildings "because you literally gagged (because of the mold). I've been told the other one is worse."
Ald. Lakeisha Purchase, whose Ward 5 represents a good portion of downtown, said it was "alarming to know we had a building sitting there that long with a big hole in the roof. That changed my mind to be supportive of this redevelopment project."
Schuering contended that both buildings sit east of the historic district and that both were "irretrievably lost by years upon years upon years of deferred maintenance and dilapidation."
He added that the purpose of the TIF was "to remove blighted conditions. There is no question that the building at 618 E. Washington is blighted. It is completely in line with both the legislative purpose and the city's direction in how it is utilizing TIF, which is to remove blighted conditions that made it eligible to be a TIF district in the first place."
In the meeting, McMenamin asked Horace Mann to consider a subrogation clause in the event the city is sued, most likely over the use of TIF funds. Under such an arrangement, Horace Mann would have to cover the costs of any legal fees the city might incur in a lawsuit.
Schuering said subrogation clauses "have never been a part of the city's standard redevelopment agreement" and it wasn't fair to ask Horace Mann to take that on.
McMenamin said later he joined DiCenso in voting "no" on the redevelopment because Horace Mann wouldn't commit to one.
Horace Mann, Carley said after the meeting, has "enormous passion for downtown and preservation of downtown.
"This project isn't about a parking lot. It's really a question of maintaining two vacant buildings versus developing an attractive open space with parking that'll be an amenity to the community rather than a blight on downtown," he added.
A number of spots will be available to the community free of charge during the evenings and weekends, Carley said.
Releasing the audiotape
A resolution that remained on the consent agenda was authorizing the audio recording and minutes of the Nov. 2, 2021, executive session of the city council.
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That discussion dealt with a $1.25 million bill the owners of the troubled Wyndham Springfield City Centre owed to City Water, Light & Power. Executive sessions are closed to the public, though no votes can be taken in those meetings.
The audio tape and minutes will be posted to the city clerk's website once the resolution is signed by the mayor, said clerk Frank Lesko.
The current owner, TowerCapital Group of San Antonio, Texas, has been trying to sell the hotel, which has 378 rooms but needs maintenance.
Most recently, the city council denied a variance to New York developer David Mitchell, who said he would sink $40 million into the city's tallest structure, previously known as the Forum 30.
Contact Steven Spearie: (217) 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Two buildings in downtown Springfield, Illinois may meet wrecking ball
