Author: joeward7

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

The full Springfield City Council Tuesday gave its approval to a $28.3 million proposed development by a New York company at Fifth and Madison streets, but not before adding an amendment ensuring that a Project Labor Agreement has to be negotiated in the future.

The unanimous vote signals the go-ahead for Adirondack Community Development to move forward

Zach Roth
The State Journal-Register

Officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation have unveiled an alternative preferred design for upgrades to a portion of the MacArthur Boulevard Corridor.

The design chosen – dubbed Alternative 3 by IDOT – includes the current two lanes of traffic between South Grand and Wabash/Stanford avenues in each direction with an 11-foot-wide center-left turn lane, five-foot-wide sidewalk on the eastern part of the road, and eight-foot-wide, two-way shared-use path on the west side of the road. It also has a buffer for traffic and a 25-inch wide curb and gutter. While the road is well within the Springfield city limits, the road’s maintenance is under IDOT’s jurisdiction.

During an open house Thursday at Franklin Middle School, IDOT Region 4 engineer

Dean Olsen
The Illinois Times

New York-based real estate developer David Mitchell says he hasn’t closed the door on his proposed $40 million acquisition and renovation of Springfield’s Wyndham City Centre into 274 market-rate apartments and more than 100 hotel rooms.

But a 6-4 vote by the Springfield City Council on Oct. 18 to deny Mitchell’s GoodHomes company the required zoning variance for work on the 30-story hotel at 700 E. Adams St. was the third time the council said “no” this year to the latest version of the project.

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

The third time was not a charm for New York City developer David Mitchell. The Springfield City Council denied a “variance for density” for the 30-story Wyndham City Centre in downtown Springfield in a 6-4 vote, capping a debate that lasted a little more than three hours.

Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath, Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso, Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley, Ward 9 Ald. Jim Donelan and Ward 10 Ralph Hanauer voted to deny the variance.

Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory, Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams, Ward 4 Ald. John Fulgenzi and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin. voted for the variance.

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

Over the last several years, close to 1,400 parcels that have been annexed into the city of Springfield have been “retained” by their townships. Mayor Jim Langfelder claimed there are annexed property owners paying taxes to townships without receiving services.

A vote Tuesday by the city council will send the matter of dissolution of the township ties to the public in a non-binding referendum on April 4. Win or lose, the city, Langfelder said,

Dean Olsen
The Illinois Times

The second unsuccessful attempt by a New York-based developer to win zoning approval for a proposed $25 million renovation of Springfield’s Wyndham City Centre hotel into market-rate apartments and hotel rooms doesn’t necessarily mean the project is dead.

Mayor Jim Langfelder said the developer, David Mitchell of GoodHomes, submitted a new proposal after the City Council’s 5-4 vote Aug. 3 on a zoning variance that would have allowed for more than 200 apartment units in the 30-story site at 700 E. Adams St. and 100 hotel rooms.

Because the plan didn’t receive enough votes from the Springfield

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

A zoning variance for the troubled downtown Wyndham City Centre has been refiled with the city’s Office of Public Works Planning and Zoning Commission, meaning a deal regarding its possible sale may not be dead after all.

Twice after Springfield City Council members voted down a variance which would have paved the way for a possible sale to a New York developer, it will be heard before planning and zoning on Sept. 21, Julia Frevert, a spokeswoman for the city, said Tuesday.

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

For a second time in a little over two weeks, the Springfield City Council rejected a zoning variance that would have paved the way for the sale of the Wyndham City Centre to a New York developer.

On Wednesday, David Mitchell, representing the proposed buyer of the city’s tallest building once known as The Forum 30, sweetened the pot, saying the group would add 20 hotel rooms to the 80 already proposed, while keeping 300 rooms as apartments, mostly the studio-size variety.

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

The future of the Wyndham City Centre as a hotel could be in doubt after the Springfield City Council Tuesday rebuffed a zoning variance for a New York-based company to buy the downtown hotel.

The current owner of the Wyndham, Springfield’s tallest building at 30 stories, insisted its hotel rooms would go away as a result of the vote.

The possible disappearance of 370 downtown hotel rooms would put the city in a lurch as conventions appear to pick up after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council will move ahead with finalizing a new ward map  July 19. A vote was scheduled despite objection from Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin at Tuesday night’s committee of the whole meeting. McMenamin challenged the process saying council members shouldn’t rewrite maps “to advantage themselves.”

The map being voted on is a modified version of one presented by the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission in mid-May.

The commission submitted two maps to city council, but one of the maps