Jeffers housing project gains OK

KANKAKEE – The $19.3 million, three-story residential apartment for downtown Kankakee has changed in terms of how it is being brought forward.

However, little else has changed and the project now going forward as a Planned Unit Development, received a 6-0 approval at Tuesday’s Kankakee Planning Board meeting.

A PUD is a real estate development in which there are different land uses, meaning residential, commercial and recreational, within a single, planned development.

This 1.73-acre downtown Kankakee development targets residential and commercial. The commercial portion will be in the neighboring former Midland States Bank property along South Schuyler Avenue.

After Brian Loftin, chief development officer for Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based development firm J. Jeffers & Co., presented the revised plan and gained a pair of unanimous votes of approval, he said the project remains on target for an October start.

The Kankakee City Council is expected to be presented with the planning board’s recommendation for approval of the project’s conditional use permit for a PUD and for the preliminary plat approval of a subdivision.

The matter is slated for the council’s June 2 meeting.

The apartment development, which will target people who have not yet had children or who are empty nesters, is slated for the area immediately east of the former Midland property in the 300 block of South Schuyler Avenue.

J. Jeffers is also working on plans to convert the vacant former bank property into a business incubator. The company plans to invest $4.5 million into that project.

The start of the projects, however, still hinges on Kankakee’s ability to gain state approval for the River’s Edge Redevelopment Zone Program assistance.

Loftin explained to plan board members the creation of the River’s Edge Zone is critical to the project. The Jeffers team is hopeful the zone is finalized and put in place by mid to late summer.

In short, the program operated through the Illinois Department of Commerce, opens up certain municipalities to incentives to aid developers, such as tax incentives for developments along or near rivers in Illinois.

The housing portion of the project has been significantly scaled back since it was first brought forward in 2018 as a 92-unit, four-story complex.

Proposed about seven years ago and having gone through various developmental agreements – first in May 2021 and revised in August 2023 – the developer for the planned market-rate Kankakee apartment complex.

Market rate housing simply means this will not be government-assisted housing.

Downtown living

The location within the 2nd Ward remains the same. The project is to be erected at the southwest corner of South Dearborn Avenue and East Station Street, immediately east of the former Midland bank property, 310 S. Schuyler Ave.

The project will consist of 30,580 square feet of residential space to be divided into one- and two-bedroom units. The bulk of the units, meaning 42 of the 47, would be single-bedroom.

Loftin did not have updated rental figures. Project details previously shared had the one-bedroom units being in the 700-square-feet range with monthly rents of $1,500. The two-bedroom dwellings would be 900- to 1,000-square-foot range and rent for $2,100.

As the project has been refined and altered over the years, the planned underground parking garage has been removed, as well as a large second-floor balcony and gathering location.

However, a rooftop deck and a ground-floor community room have been incorporated into the plan.

In February, the Kankakee City Council approved a revised tax increment financing agreement with J. Jeffers & Co., JD Financing and East Station Street LLC.

A key point of the financing agreement, Mayor Chris Curtis said, was the added “hard” start dates for the project.

By that, Curtis meant that there are several marker dates the developers must meet in order for the agreement to remain valid.

If the developers fail to reach those milestones, the city could render Jeffers in breach of the agreement. If that were to happen, the developer would be responsible for the repayment of a $1 million incentive the city approved a couple of years ago.

Based on the new agreement, the development must have its zoning no later than June 16.

By Aug. 15, final designs must be submitted. By Oct. 15, building permits must be in Jeffers’ possession. Finally, by Dec. 31, 2026, the complex must be ready for occupancy, meaning residents can be moving in after Jan. 1, 2027.