The hardest part of redeveloping the
abandoned Pillsbury Mill isn’t figuring out what to build
there — it’s deciding what to do with the buildings and
silos that are already there. At least that’s what Springfield
developer Todd P. Smith suggests. Smith, president of the Garrison
Group, was a panelist at a September brainstorming meeting, or
charrette, organized by the city’s Economic Development
Council at which stakeholders kicked around ideas ranging from a
strip mall to a strip club as possible uses for the 305-acre
Pillsbury Mill district. The project area includes the 18-acre
triangular property where the mill stands, as well as several
buildings, 160 concrete silos, and nearby railroad property bounded
by North Grand Avenue and North 19th, East Madison, and North 11th
streets. Chicago-based law firm Bell, Boyd, &
Lloyd, hired by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency grant
with federal grant funds, released the findings of the strategy
session in late April. The 90-page report, available on the Greater
Springfield Chamber of Commerce Web site, identifies potential
stakeholders, such as community members and elected officials, and
details obstacles for redevelopment, including funding and
marketing the project to developers. Bell, Boyd, & Lloyd’s report also
suggests a 15-step redevelopment plan, that includes brainstorming
with city leaders and selecting a champion “willing to
‘patiently persist’ through much up and down.”
That champion, the report suggests, may be a private citizen or an
elected official. The Springfield City Council just approved
the master plan for the Springfield Medical District in December
— a process that took three years. Now that the medical district is going full
steam ahead and much of the city’s energy is focused there,
can Springfield support another major development project? Brad Warren, executive vice president of the
Springfield Chamber, says although you can never have enough good
ideas, he doesn’t think there are too many irons in the fire
in terms of major development projects in Springfield. “The more opportunities we have for
redevelopment, the better off we are,” he
explains. Besides, says Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin,
“the medical district is a totally different creature.”
He adds that it’s not uncommon for major projects to be
undertaken simultaneously, pointing to the construction of the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which also took
place during planning for the medical district. Like Davlin, Smith believes that the city can
capitalize on the momentum created by the medical district.
Although some of the people participating in the charrette felt
that there was a natural tie between the district and the
Cargill-owned Pillsbury Mill site, he says,
medical-district-related developments aren’t the only kind of
projects that it could sustain. In fact, Smith says, the site’s
proximity to residential areas provides more options, which in a
way increases the difficulty of redeveloping the site, where the
plant operated from 1929 to 1991. Along the way, brownfield grants must be
secured from the federal government and a tax-increment financing
district may have to be established to help fund the project.
Depending on the nature of the end use, the eventual developer will
also have to obtain approval from the Illinois EPA. Already one developer has begun an evaluation
of the site, Warren says. But whatever happens, the project will be
a community-wide project as opposed to a site-specific one. Smith
says that his firm has not expressed an interest in the site. “There’s lots happening in that
area; it’s a site that needs that type of community
approach,” he says. “Without the community working
together, nothing is going to happen there.”
This article appears in May 11-17, 2006.
