Author: joeward7

Zach Roth
The State Journal-Register

Town and Country Shopping Center, the oldest shopping facility in Springfield, has a new owner.

Larkspur Properties, a real estate investment firm based in Miami, Florida, had the winning bid for the facility, paying over $6 million to buy the shopping center through an auction run by Irvine, California-based commercial real estate transfer exchange Ten-X.

Bidding for the property began at $1.6 million and two parties, including Larkspur, made active bids towards the end of the five-day auction Tuesday.

Zach Roth
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield Police Department has plans to crack down on a series of gatherings across the city residents complain are disrupting the neighborhood peace.

The department said it conducted “proactive details” last weekend in an attempt to break up what Assistant Chief Josh Stuenkel called “pop-up” parties, in which a group of 100 people or more gather in a certain location, usually late at night after local bars close.

Citations were issued during a series of traffic stops, with six weapons being recovered related to the details, leading to seven people being arrested on weapons charges.

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

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Sliding on down

Part of the consent agenda that was approved Tuesday included an ordinance authorizing a sponsorship agreement between the city and Doug Knight, the owner and general manager of Knight’s Action Park and Splash Kingdom, who is trying to buy the Giant Slide from a Minnesota businessman.

The nearly 40-foot-high slide has been a mainstay at the Illinois State Fair since 1968.

The $30,000 annual payment for four

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

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As council members moved to the debate agenda an ordinance considering the possible purchase of land at 11th and Ash streets for the new home of Fire Station No. 6, they also heard a new figure about “the worst case scenario” in terms of cost for its remediation and environmental clearance.

The figure on the old Honeywell-Hobbs property could rise to $480,000, admitted public works director Nate Bottom.

The city is in the process of getting additional soil samples from the

Zach Roth
The State Journal-Register

Springfield’s oldest shopping center is on the selling block. The Town and Country Shopping Center, on MacArthur Boulevard next to Hy-Vee, is up for sale in an online auction set May 20-24 through Ten-X, an Irvine, California-based company specializing in commercial real estate. An opening bid has been set at $1.6 million. Prospective buyers were allowed to tour the facility Tuesday.

The facility, which opened in September 1961, has struggled in recent years following the closure of many anchor stores, most notably Burlington Coat Factory, which moved

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

Emotions continued to bubble up about the placement of Springfield Fire Department houses as the full city council approved the purchase of land at the southeast corner of Lawrence Avenue and Rickard Road which will be home to Station No. 8.

Meanwhile, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso said it is time for the city “to move on and find another location that’s more suitable” for Station No. 6 as it awaits further soil testing from

Dean Olsen
The Illinois Times

The scheduled auction of Town & Country Shopping Center in May could bring a revival of sorts to the 61-year-old retail site and more positive news for the west side neighborhood, Ward 7’s alderman says.

“That site has got a lot of potential, and I’m sure the new buyer will maximize its use,” alderman Joe McMenamim told Illinois Times. “I think this can be a very positive outcome. … It’s extraordinarily important to MacArthur Boulevard.”

Joe McMenamin
The Illinois Times

In early 2016, at the age of 63, I started losing central vision in my left eye. Through the guidance of medical experts and better health habits, my eye has returned to normal without expensive long-term treatments.

The problem

In 2016 I started having trouble reading the morning newspapers. So I went to my optometrist, Dr. Michael J. Bruce, who feared I had possible Branch Retina Vein Occlusion (BRVO), often caused by

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

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City council members approved 9-1 an ordinance ratifying a collective bargaining agreement with Firefighters Local 37, but not before the issue of legal use of cannabis was addressed publicly.

Beth Rogers of Springfield, who in the past spoke out against the city’s opting-in for cannabis dispensaries, said firefighters’ use of recreational marijuana was “a public safety issue.”

Corporation counsel James Zerkle said it was a negotiated term of the

Steven Spearie
The State Journal-Register

With 23 amendments to the fiscal year 2023 budget for Springfield City Council members to consider at a special meeting Tuesday, budget director William McCarty joked that the calculator on his phone is going to get a workout.

Before hearings began, McCarty called it“a once-in-a-lifetime” corporate fund budget. Estimates show the city will close the fiscal year Feb. 28 with about a $17 million operating surplus and boost the reserves to over $50 million.