Rock Falls buys lot north of Micro Industries with plans to redevelop

ROCK FALLS – The city of Rock Falls is set to acquire more land along West Second Street near the former Micro Industries property.

On Tuesday, Rock Falls City Council members unanimously voted to purchase a vacant lot along West First Street between Second and Fourth avenues for $30,000.

The 0.23-acre lot – which currently is owned by the Jane H. Hampton Trust – is on the same block as the Micro Industries buildings, which the city owns.

“It’s just more land that we’re going to open up for development,” Rock Falls City Administrator Robbin Blackert said. “Also, we’re going to want West First Street entrance and exit, so that’s going to be able to give us more room for people to be able to go out on West First Street as well as West Second Street.”

Part of a $2.2 million Rebuild Illinois Downtowns and Main Streets grant the city received in 2022 will cover the cost of the lot purchase, Blackert said.

Before her death, Jane Hampton had agreed to sell the lot to the city if the city received the grant, Blackert said.

Hampton died, and so the city now is working with the trust and her son with the hopes of closing on the purchase by the end of this fiscal year, Blackert said.

The $2.2 million grant is part of $106 million in capital grants awarded through the Rebuild Illinois Downtowns and Main Streets Capital Program to revitalize 50 commercial corridors and main streets statewide, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said in an Aug. 15, 2022, news release.

The RBI Downtowns and Main Streets Capital Program supports local commercial corridors with concentrations of businesses hurt by the pandemic.

The grant will cover the cost of asbestos abatement and demolition of the Micro Industries building, after which they plan to redevelop the space, Blackert said. Part of the redevelopment will include parking, but how that looks has not yet been decided, she said.

“We’re thinking maybe two small ones at different locations,” Blackert said. “I know there’s a lot of rumors out there that it’s the size of a Walmart parking lot, but most of that will be green space in there.”

The future plans – which likely will begin in earnest next year – are “exciting,” she said.

“We’re going to be looking at putting a path in underneath the bridge so people can park on the west side of First Avenue in our parking lots over there, [and] to get to events you won’t have to cross First Avenue,” Blackert said. “You’ll be able to take your family underneath the First Avenue bridge, much like they do in Dixon, to get to RB&W Park.”