ROCHELLE — At its May 28 meeting, the Rochelle City Council discussed a potential urban park it may erect in the future at 517 W. 4th Ave., where it recently demolished a building that was the former site of Vinny's Barbershop.

The city acquired the building and demolished it due to structural issues. The council was presented with a concept design put together by Studio GWA for the urban park on May 28 that was received positively by council members. The concept plan includes a seat wall, native plantings and an asphalt area for a potential food truck or vendor space. A potential mural may be included in the plan.

“There's a lot happening,” City Community Development Director Michelle Pease said. “There's a seat wall, a place for a food or drink truck or live music, seats, plantings, benches and all kinds of stuff. It could be an amazing space. When we have the Christmas walk or different events downtown, I think about those places where people can gather and enjoy and just be downtown.”

City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said that the city council and staff did not want to have a condemned building in its downtown and the city worked with the property owner to purchase it for demolition. The space didn’t make sense for parking, so public open space was decided as the best use.

Studio GWA has designed properties in the city in the past, namely Kennay Farms Distilling. The city recently received a cost estimate of about $125,000 for the project. The project will still have to go out for bid and be approved by the city council.

“That’s the estimated cost for everything,” Fiegenschuh said. “It's taking a completely empty space and turning it into a park where you have a concrete pad that will withstand a large vendor truck, plantings, landscaping, concrete and pavers. It will be a focal point of our downtown and we want it to look nice.”

The city council recently approved restoration work on the adjoining walls of the two businesses that the demolition left bare. Pease said after that work is done, water and electric hookups will be installed. After going out to bid for the urban park project, her hope is to have it completed by Nov. 1. If that timeline isn’t feasible, the project would be pushed to the spring. 

The project will be paid for through the city’s tourism fund, its Downtown tax-increment financing (TIF) District fund, and recent bond money issued for downtown public improvements.

Fiegenschuh said the urban park could allow the city to be a part of events that downtown businesses put on in the area where vendors could set up there. Pease envisions the space as a place for community members to gather and patronize downtown businesses.

“We talk about our walkability downtown and how we want people to gather and come and stay downtown,” Pease said. “I envision someone with an acoustic guitar and a microphone performing there. You can get lunch from a business in the area and sit and enjoy the music. I think it's just another piece of the puzzle to make downtown more appealing.”

In a separate project in the downtown area that’s partially grant-funded, the city will be constructing a structure with public restrooms, a stage and storage, constructing two new parking lots, reconstructing seven existing parking lots, and doing major electrical service improvements including placing electric lines underground. 

Pease said she’s excited for the future of the downtown after all of the projects are wrapped up. Downtown business owners have shown their excitement upon learning of the work, she said.

“I'm very excited about it,” Pease said. “I grew up here and we've seen many phases of the downtown area and we've seen businesses coming and going and being successful. I think this is all an opportunity for us to make our downtown a really special place where people gather. It's an exciting time. It feels really powerful. There's a lot of energy happening downtown right now. People want to be there. When I have retailers call with interest, they want to locate downtown. And that's huge because five or six years ago, it was a lot different. We didn't have that interest.”

Fiegenschuh praised the business owners in the downtown area and said the city’s improvement wouldn’t be possible without the private investment that’s been seen in the area. He wants the city to serve its purpose of creating an environment conducive to private investment. The city manager said more work will be seen in not just the downtown, but each corridor of Rochelle in coming years.

“We want to improve all of our corridors equally,” Fiegenschuh said. “Downtown is the gathering place and the core of the community. I go to conferences and hear people with national retail experience say that you can tell a lot about a city by looking at its downtown. I think ours shows pride in our community and that we're happy with our community and that we love Rochelle. We're working on our other corridors too and over the next 5-6 years you're going to see a lot of improvements in every corridor in the community.”