If the General Assembly approves a key element of Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget proposal this spring, it could breathe life back into the sprawling, overgrown site and four other unused state properties like it that have become targets for vandalism and worse.
In a budget proposal that included no new taxes and cuts to key programs like health care for noncitizen immigrants, Pritzker is proposing the state invest $300 million to prepare the sites for private development. Funding would come from the state’s capital budget.
The Pritzker administration said the program would create jobs and support community revitalization, and the project would attract new businesses, potentially leading to billions of dollars in private investment. The five sites in the proposal were identified as “high priority,” though others might be considered in the future.
In addition to the Dwight prison, the proposal includes the site of the shuttered Jacksonville Developmental Center, which consists of 18 buildings on 100 acres, and the abandoned Lincoln Developmental Center about 60 miles away in Lincoln, which has 27 buildings and sits on another 100 acres. The two other chosen sites are the shuttered 100-acre, 12-building H. Douglas Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford, and a 70-acre section of unutilized land outside the Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee.
The Jacksonville, Rockford and Dwight facilities were all closed by Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration in the early 2010s amid financial struggles.
Posted by John3262005
1 Comment
I hate bidding wars between states.