PEORIA MAGAZINE May 2023

Milaccio said it will culminate with a gala event at the Country Club of Peoria on Nov. 11, 125 years to the day after the village was formed in 1898. The party is sure to spotlight Peoria Heights’ claim as the birthplace of the first gasoline-powered car in America, built in 1883 by Charles Duryea and the Duryea Motor Wagon Company. The Heights also was once home to Rouse, Hazard and Company, a prolific maker of bicycles at the turn of the century, and Peoria Rubber and Manufacturing Company, which also built bikes and the tires they rode on. The Peoria Rubber factory was later home to The Bartholomew Company, maker of “The Glide” automobile. It was a Glide that former President Theodore Roosevelt rode in when he declared Grandview Drive to be “the world's most beautiful drive” in 1910. ‘VERY, VERY PRO-BUSINESS’ The Heights has three distinct development areas – the ACE (Arts Culinary and Entertainment) Corridor along Prospect Road, the waterfront along Galena Road (Illinois Route 29) and War Memorial Drive. The ACE Corridor recently got a boost with $2 million in federal assistance for the design and engineering phase of a Prospect Avenue upgrade between Tower Park and War Memorial Drive. The proposed reconstruction would narrow the road, widen sidewalks, replace underground infrastructure and beautify the area with ornamental lighting and abundant landscaping. Meanwhile, the village is set to receive nearly $70 million from the state for a reimagined and wholly reconstructed Galena Road. The thoroughfare will be widened and made safer. A key component of the project is the construction of a recreational trail with river views on the bluff side of the roadway, as the village aims to become an ecotourism destination. Meanwhile, a new trailhead to be constructed where the new McClugage Bridge span empties at Adams Street will join the existing assets of Forest Park Nature Preserve, Poplar Lane Park and

Grandview Drive in Peoria Heights

Bielfeldt Park. It’s all part of a network of uninterrupted biking and hiking trails between Morton and Toulon, with the Rock Island Greenway at their center as it cuts through downtown Peoria Heights, with more than 70,000 users annually. The Rock Island Greenway is not formally identified as a development corridor but is a major part of the village’s ecotourism push. Finally, War Memorial Drive through the Heights is targeted for significant reinvestment. Princeton, Illinois-based Beck Oil has cleared a swath of land for its 18th gas station/car wash/ convenience store. Across the street is a stalwart of the War Memorial corridor. Alwan & Sons Meat Company has been operating pretty much from the same spot (but different buildings) for almost 70 years, said Brian Alwan, one of three family members who now run the store. “(Peoria Heights) is very, very pro business,” he said. “They never, ever put their nose in the air and say no. They are always looking for new developments.” A STEP BACK, TWO FORWARD Heights leadership tends to err on the side of optimism, but not everything clicks. The last few years saw Kim Blicken staff’s KDB Group purchasing or leasing multiple properties throughout the village – the former Pabst adminis tration building, Prospect Mall, the Betty Jayne Brimmer Center for the

Performing Arts, the Grayboy property, the Al Fresco Park site, the old Pump House – creating high hopes in the village. KDB backed off those projects earlier this year. “It’s unfortunate that some of the things they had promised aren’t going to happen,” conceded Phelan. “We have let them know that we would be glad to work with them to achieve what they set out to do, and find other partners to bring in.” While they wait, other projects are moving forward. Village officials have broken ground on a unique-to-central Illinois, accessible-to-all playground in Tower Park. The Together We Play facility was the brainchild of students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in Peoria Heights and should be completed before summer. Good Tequilas Mexican Grill recently opened on Prospect Road. And from scratch brewing is returning to the village for the first time since Pabst made beer by the barrel here four decades ago. Brian and Amber Buss recently announced that their Bust’d Brewing will start producing home grown refreshment this spring in the former Subway building on Prospect. “We’re very excited about our future,” said the mayor.

Scott Fishel is a senior communications executive at WTVP

54 MAY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE