The Salem City Council Tuesday afternoon agreed to apply for a Rebuild Illinois Downtowns and Main Streets grant that could pay as much as 75-percent of the cost of developing a downtown event center.
The proposed development has a cost of just over $2-million and as part of the grant application the city is pledging $150,000 from the TIF fund and $369,013 from the general fund as the local share of funding. The city has already purchased the vacant lot at West McMackin and South Maple where the event center would be located.
Economic Development Director Leah Dellicarpini says the city has had an engineer develop the 2400 square foot facility.
“Indoor/Outdoor appeal that has a bar on one end and the bathrooms behind it. And seating inside and outside. It’s a place for us to host music events, theater events, add additional venue to our farmers market that runs across the street in the summer.”
Dellicarpini says food trucks could also be scheduled to be at the center. She notes with Main and Broadway both being state highways where special events and outdoor seating are not possible the city began looking a block off the major highways and came up with the location. The project would also include curb, gutter and sidewalk around the new facility.
s Dellicarpini says at some point the city may want to sell the event center to a private operator.
Mayor Nic Farley says this project is part of an effort by the city council to attract people downtown, but adds it is only one piece of the puzzle.
A grant rider with the South Central Illinois Regional Planning and Development Commission Brooke Frederick says they are looking for letters of support for the project as part of the grant application which must be turned into the state by June 22nd.
The city doesn’t anticipate knowing if they will receive the grant until early next year.
