With the city of Peoria looking for ways to reimagine one of the most distressed areas of the city, REALTORS® stepped up to bring in national real estate experts to formulate a revitalization plan. In October, a team with The Counselors of Real Estate Consulting Corps met with community stakeholders, toured the sites and analyzed the potential options. When their work is done, they will provide the city and the community with an actionable roadmap to make the properties vital once again.

“The common denominator for all of us involved in the project was focusing on improving the quality of life for local residents and making good use of real estate to address a community’s needs,” said Illinois REALTORS® Governmental Affairs Director Kristie Engerman. “REALTORS® did their very best to highlight the needs and priorities of the residents and community stakeholders.”

REALTORS® bring in experts to formulate a plan

Seeing an opportunity for REALTORS® to help the community with its goal, Engerman worked with the Peoria Area Association of REALTORS® to submit a proposal for the National Association of REALTORS® Transforming Neighborhoods Program, which it operates with its commercial affiliate, The Counselors of Real Estate (CRE).

In May 2022 after a competitive process, CRE announced that Peoria was one of three projects nationwide this year, with the others in Alabama and Tennessee. The Peoria project is the first to be chosen in Illinois.

CRE would be sending in a team of real estate and development experts from around the country to analyze the Peoria project and come up with the best solution.

“The Peoria Area Association of REALTORS® (PAAR) works diligently to build relationships with leaders and stakeholders in the communities we serve and invest in projects that improve the health of those communities. This project will be a catalyst for redevelopment, revitalization and reinvestment opportunities in our community,” said PAAR CEO Jennifer Hamm. “Improving this area will improve the overall health of our entire community over time.”

“The common denominator for all of us involved in the project was focusing on improving the quality of life for local residents and making good use of real estate to address a community’s needs.”

Kristie Engerman, Illinois REALTORS® Governmental Affairs Director

The Peoria Project

For years, the old Harrison and McKinley schools have sat vacant on Peoria’s Southside. Once bustling hubs of the community, the empty schools have since become dilapidated and deteriorating eyesores. The city of Peoria now owns the properties and has plans to demolish both schools.

But what to do with the vacant land left behind?

Each school is located in the 61605 zip code, which is recognized as one of the nation’s most economically distressed zip codes by The Economic Innovation Group. On a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being prosperous and 100 being severely distressed, the 61605 zip code scored 99.6.

Future development plans for the vacant properties could benefit not just the neighborhood but the 61605 area.

“It is so important to focus on the reimagining of the old McKinley and old Harrison school areas to give a new opportunity to the neighborhood,” said Peoria Mayor Rita Ali. “We’re looking to bring back more businesses to that area and these two properties play into that larger picture of revitalizing this important area of our city.”

What is CRE and the CRE Consulting Corps?

The Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) is a commercial affiliate of the National Association of REALTORS® that brings together accomplished real estate leaders from around the world. Only 1,000 professionals hold the CRE credential globally and they are recognized for their expertise in development, corporate real estate, property management, public-private partnerships and more.

The CRE Consulting Corps is the public service program of CRE and it provides non-profit and government entities with strategic analysis and targeted action plans to address a real estate property challenge. In the last 25 years, the Consulting Corps has worked on 50 projects, from helping tackle housing supply in Washington state to repurposing a shopping center in Ohio.

CRE Consulting Corps on the ground in Peoria

The CRE Consulting Corps sent a five-member team of CREs with expertise in real estate brokerage and consulting, community economic development, site selection and land valuation to Peoria. From Oct. 17-20, they toured the school sites, visited with the many stakeholders in the community and analyzed the needs of the areas in order to make recommendations on what to do next.

Engerman and PAAR’s Hamm worked to bring 60 of the area’s shareholders together for the CRE visit. There were representatives from the city, the public housing authority, the public school district, community college, park district, social service groups, local clergy, neighborhood groups and more.

“The stakeholders have come together, they have seen a need and they are stepping up to the plate to get something done to make us an even stronger community across all zip codes,” said 2022-2023 PAAR President Robin Simpson.

For more information or to suggest a project, visit the CRE website at www.cre.org/initiatives/consulting-corps/.

The Initial CRE Plan

The CRE Consulting Corps team will be releasing its final report and recommendations for the Peoria project in the coming months. At the end of the four-day site visit in October, CRE Matthew Rueff shared an initial outline of the proposed plan.

  1. Demolish McKinley and Harrison schools and get the land sites ready for potential developers.
  2. There is pride in the area; create a change in the identity of the neighborhood community wide.
  3. Utilize the city’s new homeownership program to create investment and help the city leverage the program to get banks to the table. Also take advantage of the city’s existing Local Initiative Support Corporation.
  4. Remember rental properties. The McKinley site is an excellent spot for affordable senior housing. The Harrison site could be a project that works with the public housing association and lead developer that also builds services around that for the neighborhood.

“It’s very energizing all the way around and now we write the final report and hopefully provide a good not only action plan, but from our experience, the case study on how to approach accomplishing one year at a time and one timeline at a time,” said fellow CRE and Peoria native Wendy Timm. “I can’t wait to see the result.”

The CRE Consulting Corps Peoria Team

Wendy Timm, Enhanced Value Strategies, St. Louis, MO

Elizabeth M. Beckett, Real Estate Strategies, Inc./RES Advisors, Paoli, PA

Randal D. Dawson, CBRE, Chicago, IL

Matthew C. Rueff, AP Development LLC and Anderson Partners LLC, Indianapolis, IN

A. Lloyd Thomas, NAI Aldrich-Thomas Group, Temple, TX

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