Story by Kevin Woodard
Once again Trail East is on the Normal Town Council agenda in its current configuration with its twin, Trail West. Town Staff is recommending Council pass a resolution approving a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Eagle View Partners for the development.
The Trail East building is proposed to be constructed in Uptown Normal on the east side of Constitution Blvd. between East College Avenue and East Beaufort Street while the Trail West building is planned to be located on the west side of Constitution Blvd. between East College and West North St.
According to town staff the development will add 198,000 feet of mixed-use development and the MOU has no budget impact. Staff also wrote that constructing these two buildings would complete the last two “significant structures” included in the original Uptown Normal Renewal Plan developed over 20 years ago.
Eagle View is a development company out of Cedar Falls, Iowa. Their partners on the project are local engineering consultants Farnsworth Group and the DCI group, a construction management group based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The current proposal for Trail East is different from what was previously considered that arose from a Request for Proposals (RFP) put out by the Town in 2017. This proposal results from an RFP sent out by Normal in November of 2021 and the preferred development concept consists mostly of housing. 150 residential units are proposed.
The projected cost of the development is between $50-60 million.
A time frame for the development would see Trail West finished by the Fall of 2024.
Trail East would come after Trail West. Trail East is expected to be finished by 2026.
Normal Mayor Chris Koos told WMBD that they [the council] is happy to get this thing moving again.
“The project is going to change quite a bit, … There’s just not a lot of demand for office space right now so it’s really going to be primarily residential, I’d say about 80% of the building will be residential,” said Koos.
Conceptual view from Uptown Circle looking north up Constitution Blvd. Photo courtesy to engineering consultants Farnsworth Group and the DCI group and the Town of Normal
Also on the agenda is a resolution asking the council to accept the lowest responsible bid and award a contract to J. G. Stewart Contractors to do $658,000 worth of sidewalk work in the town. Stewart outbid George Gilder whose bid $689,000 was $31,000 higher. The work will include new sidewalks, sidewalk repair and installing new ADA ramps.
The Normal Town Council meets tonight at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall at 11 Uptown Circle on the 4th floor.
