Here's the latest news on the boutique hotel that was approved for downtown Rockford a few years ago.

For the past several years, downtown Rockford has become a much-improved place.  It's a destination for our city with shopping, restaurants, events, and more.

The only thing really missing was a hotel. Well, that will change soon as construction on the conference center has begun.

Let's take a quick trip back in time.

Even though the future downtown hotel and conference center was getting all the attention, there was another one in the works.

I remember a big announcement and press conference.

A group was planning to build a "boutique" style hotel in the former Trekk building in downtown Rockford.

So far, nothing. Well, here's an update.

"The developer of a proposed $16 million boutique hotel at the corner of North Main and Mulberry streets says he’s waiting for the city to move forward on-site remediation before construction can commence."

There seems to be a little difference in opinion.

The developers, Joseph James Partners, thinks it's the city's job to take care of the asbestos problem in the building and the city of Rockford disagrees.

Rockford applied for a $175,000 grant to help with the cleanup but doesn't feel they need to do anything else according to their agreement.

In the original agreement with the city in 2015, the developer was going to break ground immediately. This hasn't happened.

The city has sent a notice of default to the company. They have until September 23rd to move forward with the plan including a timeline and financial information.

SupplyCore CEO Peter Provenzano, the owner of Joseph James Partners, recently stated that they will be moving ahead with the project.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the next couple of months.

Personally, I don't see it happening.


 

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