2012 Tourists Break Record for Illinois

Illinois officials announced earlier this month that Illinois' tourism sector grew in 2012 to record numbers. Domestic tourists increased 6 percent to 99 million domestic visitors who in turn generated another $31 billion for the state economy. This comes after a record 93.3 million Americans who visited the state in 2011.

The numbers for international guests won't be released until later this summer.

The following comes from the state's news release.

"Another year of record breaking numbers proves that travel is back and the tourism industry in Illinois is thriving," Governor [Pat] Quinn said. “Our world-class cultural attractions and destinations continue to attract more and more visitors to Illinois each year, which in turn directly drives the state’s economic growth."

This marks the second year in a row that Illinois’ visitor numbers broke records and outpaced the national average of 5.4 percent, highlighting the industry’s vital contributions to Illinois' economic growth, job creation and tax revenue.

Bolstered by a surge in leisure travel, the Illinois tourism industry generated nearly $31 billion in 2012 from domestic visitors alone, up 5 percent from last year’s record-breaking domestic travel expenditures of $29.5 billion. Preliminary data indicate that international visitor numbers are also on the rise. International numbers will be released later this summer.

The positive performance reflects an improving economy and Governor Quinn's targeted efforts to showcase Illinois as a travel destination. In the past two years, the Quinn Administration launched a new tourism marketing campaign, touted Illinois tourism on trade missions to Canada, China, Mexico and Brazil and worked closely with local convention and visitors bureaus across Illinois to trumpet the unique attributes of their regions.

"The tourism industry plays a vital role in growing Illinois' economy, providing valuable jobs for residents and spurring business of all sizes," Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Director Adam Pollet said.

State and local tax revenues from tourism totaled more than $2.3 billion in 2012, an increase of more than $124 million. State tax revenue rose 5.3 percent to $1.6 billion, while local tax revenue rose 6.6 percent to more than $699 million. Initial estimates indicate that the Illinois travel industry workforce grew by 1.9 percent in 2012. Final figures will be released later this summer.

"We are always looking for innovative ways to share Illinois' unique stories with the world and to encourage visitors to discover all that the state offers,” Illinois Office of Tourism Deputy Director Jen Hoelzle said. "Our efforts drive visitors to the people, places and experiences that make a trip to Illinois memorable."

The Illinois Office of Tourism directly supports the travel industry by promoting visitor travel both domestically and internationally, to help grow the tourism industry throughout the state. The Illinois Office of Tourism is funded by a percentage of the state's hotel and motel tax revenue.

Destination information, trip inspiration ideas, the 2013 Illinois Travel Guide and more can be found at www.enjoyillinois.com or by calling 1-800-2CONNECT.

Let the Fracking Begin

In a quiet, not-quite ceremony located not in Southern Illinois, or even in the state capital, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1715 in Chicago today. More than anything, even the STAR Bonds bill from a few years ago, SB 1715 which creates a 21st Century regulatory standard for hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry has the power to totally transform downstate Illinois.

It's a shame that the governor treats his greatest legacy as something to be ashamed of.

While we've had fracking for 50 years at a small scale, and even some medium-size attempts recently, we're now waiting for what happens next. Something between the oil-caused catastrophes just waiting to happen and the economy-changing creation of 50,000 new jobs in the next decade.

For some perspective I suggested reading up on North Dakota and the Bakkan Shale formation.

The Weekly Standard has a nice article online about North Dakota oil boom that's taken off due to fracking.

Some claim fracking will hurt tourism. Actually the hotel industry has already benefited the most from the leasing activity, at least in the Mount Vernon area.

Progress Made Toward Little Egypt Oasis

The drive to develop the Little Egypt Oasis on top of Interstate 57 at West Frankfort continues through the planning and engineering phases.

Overpass owner and developer Scott Williams sent out an update earlier this week. On Monday he met with representatives of both the Illinois Department of Transportation as well as the Federal High Administration. The meeting "went well," he reported.

The preliminary engineering findings and drawings for the Access Justification Report (AJR) were reviewed. This was the first meeting that included FHWA and was a big step forward in the process. As each segment of the AJR is created it will be submitted for comments and when the complete AJR is created it will be submitted to FHWA for conceptual approval.

The conceptual approval, if all goes well, will take about 4 to 6 months and the study that will follow will take 12 to 18 months. So the project is moving forward but still has a long way to go.

The moves comes after the initial kickoff meeting for the Access Justification Report last November.

The Little Egypt Oasis would make major changes in the interstate interchange and open up hundreds of acres for development. The key point of the plan would include using the railroad overpass as the site of the main development. An early stage would be building of a truck stop on the west side of the highway.

New Hotels For Marion, Mount Vernon

With the Drury chain focusing on a major new project in Mount Vernon the company took the rare step of actually placing some of their undeveloped acreage for sale. The chain has long been known for sitting on property until the time is right for development.

Recently in Marion, they turned over part of their land for the new Panera's and was in negotiation with America's Best Inns to buy and demolish that property for another well-known chain restaurant. That deal did not materialize.

Now they've placed three acres up for sale located behind their hotel and Panera's that fronts 17th Street (Morgan Ave.), and it looks like there's another developer eyeing it for a new hotel and apartments that would cater to professionals and workers who need longer-term stays.

As of last week no building permits had been issued with the city.

Drury's three acres would make a good fit for such a development. There are nine restuarants in that block or just across the streets that surround it, as well as a liquor store. Gold's Gym is just a short walk away as is Rent One Park up on The Hill.

Meanwhile work progresses in Mount Vernon for Drury Inn's new $22 million development on the northeast side of the main interstate interchange. Drury has knocked down its long-time three-story inn, a gas station next door, and as of late last month when the picture below was taken, was in the process of knocking down the Thrifty Inn and the former Best Western Inn, which had been closed for years.

The old rooms wiped out will be replaced by a seven-story hotel similar to the built in the last few years at O'Fallon, Illinois. In addition the company will create space for two new restuarants yet to be publicly identified. Plans also call for additional retail space as well.

The old Best Western hotel was one of the two original major hotels in Mount Vernon after the opening of Interstate 57. Ralph Gray, brother of U.S. Rep. Ken Gray, and developer of the Gray Plaza motel chain, built the hotel in 1967-68 as a 101-room Ramada Inn.

Gray announced the $1.1 million project at the time he opened his new Ramada Inn in Marion. Both hotels were designed to be identical. While the Mount Vernon languished in recent decades hidden behind a row of pine trees planted on the Thrifty Inn property, the Marion hotel has survived as a budget motel under a variety of franchises.

The hotels originally included a cocktail lounge, coffee shop and a banquet room large enough for 150 people. An ornate curved staircase to the a second floor was a major feature in the lobbies. Each guest room included "piped-in-music, color television and air conditioning" and were "decorated in three color schemes, gold, green and blue," according to an article in the July 23, 1967, edition of the Southern Illinoisan.

Fracking Cuts Unemployment to 0.7 Percent

Oil gusher at Robinson,
Illinois, in 1907.

The Chicago Tribune had a front page feature story Sunday about the oil boom in North Dakota which mentioned, fairly high up in the story, the potential in Southern Illinois.

There's been a lot of debate, most of it one-sided and hysterical, about the negative impacts of fracking, usually from people who don't realize our state's oil industry has been using the technique since the 1950s.

What's new is the combination of fracking, far deeper drilling as well as the development of horizontal drilling. I did a series of articles last year for The Daily Register in Harrisburg about the potential.

Those opposed to it certainly haven't swayed me. It would be better if some of their leading spokespeople weren't opposed to our petroleum-based civilization in the first place. I get it. You don't like oil. Go back to your cave. There aren't any real alternatives except for coal and natural gas which for the former you like even less.

My favorite complaint is that it would hurt tourism. In actuality, only to the extent that it would drive up room rates and eliminate vacancies. Neither of those, mind you, would bother hotel operators.

But the best reason to support a resurgence in our oil industry is the jobs that come with it. There's a story in today's paper about Illinois fighting with Iowa over a $1.2 billion new anhydrous ammonia plant.

That's a lot of construction jobs but only 150 permanent jobs when it's built. They're talking 50,000 jobs if downstate Illinois starts to do its best imitation of North Dakota.

I knew it was serious last spring when U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, came to Harrisburg for a photo op following the Leap Day Tornado. A week earlier he had targeted the coal industry at a global warming news conference in Chicago.

I wanted to ask him about his comments. To his credit he didn't change them even though he was in the heart of coal country. He surprised me when he brought up oil and natural gas as replacements for the mining jobs.

I had been hearing about the possibilities of fracking coming to Illinois and a potential oil boom. I asked, "how big?" He wouldn't quantify an answer, but smiled, and made reference to North Dakota. It was around that time that North Dakota passed Alaska as the county's second largest oil-producing state.

And with that reference it's time to get back to Sunday's focus story.

Appropriately, the Trib's big story starts with a little one, how Andy Turco went from high school dropout in a series of dead-end jobs to a solid blue collar career. All he had to do was leave Chicago for the northern plains.

Then [Turco] talked to a buddy working here, in a barren corner of North Dakota, where an ugly-sounding word — fracking — has driven oil from the ground and pushed unemployment down to 0.7 percent. That's right: seven-tenths of one percent.

Turco sold his car, hopped in a van and drove west.

Today, he's earning nearly six figures working about 90 hours a week on a drilling rig, one of many Chicago-area transplants who have joined thousands in a remote region experiencing an oil boom while much of the country tries to shake off a recession hangover.

"It is the best thing I ever did; no doubt about it," said Turco, 24, who arrived in Williston in October 2011. "I'm finally living an adult lifestyle, instead of a teenage dropout lifestyle."

And it's all thanks to fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, a relatively new and controversial drilling technology in which highly pressurized water, sand and other substances are driven into oil-rich shale thousands of feet deep, creating cracks that release the oil deposits and send them up the well.

Read more about the developments here.

The Illinois General Assembly will be taking up state Rep. John Bradley's bill to regulate fracking. It will be the toughest regulatory oversight in the country. It's backed by both industry and the still-in-the-mainstream environmental groups.

Delta Grant to Improve Access to Walker's Bluff

Walker's Bluff likes to advertise they're the region's premiere entertainment destination, but actually getting there has never been easy.

Today's Southern Illinoisan notes that one of the new grants just announced from the Delta Regional Authority includes funds to upgrade the county line road that leads to the property.

Delta awarded more than $100,500 for improvements to Meridian Road in Williamson County as part of a $340,470 project for tourism asset expansion expected to create and retain 111 jobs.

The article doesn't name Walker's Bluff, but it's the only tourism asset in that area.

Street Machine Nationals Return to DuQuoin

The Street Machine Nationals will be returning to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds this summer according to a story in yesterday's Southern Illinoisan.

The state and the sponsors have been negotiating since last November for what will be the 30th annual event that DuQuoin last hosted in 1998.

The three-day event from June 28-30 is expected to draw about 10,000 visitors to the city so make your hotel reservations now. This is the type of event that will fill rooms from Mount Vernon to Marion and Carbondale.

Fair Manager John Rednour said the event should generate a $3 to $4 million impact to the city and the surrounding region.

Interest in the event is already high, Rednour said.

“Our phones have been ringing off the hook. People want to know about the campgrounds, hotels. We’re expecting at least 10,000 the first year and that’s going to be great for Du Quoin and the surrounding area,” he said.

Romney Win = Boulder Creek on The Hill

At least that's what Marion Mayor Bob Butler seemed to be implying in an interview last week with WSIL-TV. It's also what he indicated in an interview I had with him last month.

The developers aren't crass enough to mention Mitt Romney by name, but based on what little the mayor is spilling and the simple facts that commentators nation-wide are repeating, many in America, particularly in the business sector are concerned that the country is not only going in the wrong direction, but could be going over a fiscal cliff with another recession very possible (as most of Europe is already in one).

The TV station quotes Butler as stating: "... most of the businesses interested in the space will wait until after the Presidential election to decide to build.

"If one candidate is elected president, they feel like one thing will happen in the economy. If another is elected perhaps they feel something else will happen," says Butler.

Considering that most of the businesses would be retailers it's understandable if they plan on waiting to see if a president is elected that actually supports the free markets, or one that believes in government control and slow growth.

Last month the discussion actually centered on one of the two major developers looking at the STAR bonds site who was waiting until after the election to make a decision.

No one is mentioning any names, whether it's presidential candidates or actual anchors to the proposed Boulder Creek at The Hill development. Either way we'll all know more in less than a month.

Developers Outline Plans for Marion's West Side

View Larger Map

I've been out of town and missed the news, but the Marion City Council moved forward on plans last week for a new 74-acre commercial office, retail and restaurant space development on the south side of Illinois Route 13 generally between Skyline Drive and the Burlington-Northern Railroad.

The site is owned by two locally-owned LLCs, Celeste Linha LLC and Cerrado LLC. Marion businessmen Ron Osman and Jim Reichert own the first one, and Osman is the principal investor in the second, according to an article in the Southern Illinoisan.

The largest tract south of Illinois Route 13 immediately west of Sam's Club has long shown disinterest in developing their property, at best only wanting to lease rather than sell. That has left the next tract across from Toys R' Us in a position of being unable to develop due to lack of access roads to Walton Way and Skyline Drive.

Now that IDOT is building the frontage road between those two roads and extending Marathon Drive south from the mall property to the new road, this property will have access. Owned by Phil Campbell, formerly of the old Campbell's Harley-Davidson dealership, now Black Diamond, he's been wanting to see this land developed ever since the Illinois Centre mall opened. Now he can.

The next tract to the west was the north end of the old Saluki National Golf Course fiasco from the early 1980s that sent the developer to jail. Many of the bodies of water visible in the satellite view date to the golf course. This is part of the 74 acres included in the redevelopment and I believe this is the Celeste Linha LLC property.

The fourth tract sits at the corner of Route 13 and Skyline and includes a large 35,000 sq. ft. building that Osman (Cerrado LLC) will tear down as part of the redevelopment. The building has been offices for Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a department store in the 1970s and was originally build as a furniture store in 1966 for Beiderman's Furniture, a national chain.

The St. Louis chain entered the Marion market in 1962 when it bought the Williams Furniture Store at 307-09 N. Market St., which had been in business for seven years. Today that location is the home of Bennie's Italian Foods.

Beiderman began work on the Skyline Drive location in 1966, in what was then an isolated commercial cluster at the intersection halfway between the interstate and Illinois Route 148. Lawrence Wohlwend had already been active in developing Westernaire Plaza at the intersection which included his Chrysler dealership where the current one remains. The new Beiderman store opened March 12, 1967. At the time it was one of the chain's 38 stores in the Midwest and one of 87 stores nationwide.

The city annexed the land the following month on April 5. The chain went under in 1974. A Valu-Store took its place and open in October 1976.

An effort earlier this decade at a new residential development on micro-sized lots drew the wrath of neighbors to the south and never materialized.

The Southern's story mentions that the city has agreed with taking out the railroad spur that crosses the old golf course property and will reimburse developers for a number of infrastructure costs with 75 percent of the city's 1 percent sales tax collected in the area.

The story did not mention any TIF monies being used, but the land, at least the Beiderman building is part of a TIF district. Demolition of the building, site preparation, and the construction of roads and utilities are all reimbursable expenses under TIFs.

Osman said the development has already been more than 20 years in the making, time which he's spent acquiring property and various tracts of land.

"It's kind of like giving birth to an elephant, it takes a long time," Osman said. "And it's still a long way from being done."

Work on the frontage road should be completed by the end of the year. Work will begin sometime on the new Illinois Route 13 overpass over Marathon Drive and the Burlington-Northern Railroad, despite the clear lack of enthusiasm for the project by anybody in City Hall, at the mall or just about anywhere else.

Mr. Koolz Opens Wednesday, Others to Follow

The latest Marion eatery, Mr. Koolz' Frozen Yogurt is scheduled to open at 9 a.m. Wednesday for those who need some dessert following breakfast.

The business owned by County Board Chairman Brent Gentry and managed by Babe Ann Hoover is located immediately north of Black Diamond Harley-Davidson in the south end of what's was the Stevens' building and now is named Parkway Plaza.

Three other restaurants are scheduled to open as well over the next two months. Logan's Roadhouse is set for Sept. 16 and a story in Sunday's Southern Illinoisan also noted another steakhouse will open later in the month.

Sammy’s Steakhouse will open in Marion Plaza at 1000 N. Carbon in the space formerly occupied by the short-lived Home Style Buffet and Nong Chen. The site is undergoing extensive renovations. Long-time Marion Chef Sammy Mankin will serve up the specials.

The Southern also reported that Panera Bread should open late in October next to Drury Inn.

Walt's Pizza Expands in Marion

Marion's hometown pizza shrine Walt's Pizza is adding another topping to its eatery with a new delivery and carry-out center on the south side of their existing building.

Since 1977 owner Walter Nieds has sold more than 2 million pizzas from his store on South Court Street. The new addition will free up space in the kitchen and replace the somewhat cramped carry-out entrance in the front of the building.

Nieds applied for the building permit on Aug. 7 and construction began shortly thereafter.

The move is part of a larger trend of new eateries opening and older establishments expanding or renovating in town. The new ones being Logan's Roadhouse and Panera Break and those renovating over the last few years including McDonalds (new replacement building on Court, remodeled building at I-57) and Taco Bell.

And there's both additional restaurants looking at Marion as well as more remodeling/replacement of old buildings by existing ones.

Old West End Sees New Growth

Nieds' project at his location is also part of a developing trend of new investment along Court Street that's seen more than a million dollars of new construction underway or planned within about a five-block stretch of the highway, which besides the carryout facility includes a new Family Dollar store at the site of the old demolished Hardee's building, and a new office building for Clarida & Ziegler Engineering on North Court.

Around the corner on West Main Street the city continues planning work for a new multi-million dollar recreation and aquatics center at the old hospital site. The area is mostly all part of the recent Hub Tax Incrementing Financing District established by the city.

While most of the attention in Marion is directed to the area by the interstate traffic counts there in the heart of the city are 13,400 vehicles for Main Street west of Court (but that's 2006 figures), and 11,000 vehicles on the first couple of blocks of South Court and 12,500 vehicles on North Court, both as of 2011.

The creek that runs around and under the intersection of Court and Main was once named West End Creek as that was the western limits of development in Marion in the mid to late 19th Century.

Construction Picks Up

The $180,000 restaurant addition is part of nearly $1.8 million in projects permitted by the city this month. Other major projects include the $500,000 building for a new Family Dollar store at the corner of West Main and Court Streets, and an $850,000 addition to be built onto Heartland Christian Church at 900 E. Boyton St.

Construction over the summer started out slow in Marion with just three building permits in June, but has been picking up. If last year's $3.9 million expansion of Heartland Medical Center is taken out of consideration, then totals for this May through August are above last year's.

May saw $1,286,000 in projects this year compared with $800,000 last year. June saw $983,000 in projects compared with just $268,550 last year. July was down with only $1,148,500 this year compared to $4,514,000 last year, but that includes the 2011 hospital project, and August totals as of yesterday were $1,795,000 compared with $1,223,500 last year.

In other business Monday the city council decided it was time to rename Circuit City Road in the Robert L. Butler Industrial Park now that the bankrupt company's former warehouse has sold to new owners. Presumably the road is deservingly named for Glenn Clarida, the city's long-time engineer and only surviving member of the city's mid 20th Century-era planning commission other than the mayor himself who was appointed to the commission before being elected mayor in 1963.

If not, then it's named for the mayor's father-in-law, J. H. Clarida, who served as the city's mayor during the riotous Prohibition Era of the 1920s. I'm going with the former rather than the latter.

Harrisburg Hosts Car Show Monday

The Memory Lane Auto Fest returns to the Saline County Fairgrounds this Labor Day.

It's the second year for the festival organized by the Shawnee Classic Iron Auto Club and sponsored by the Saline County Tourism Bureau, Harrisburg Medical Center and Wallace Auto Parts.

My story in yesterday's Daily Register has the details.

The Fourth of July fireworks that were originally planned for this day have been moved again to the BBQ and Bluegrass Festival on the fairgrounds Oct. 6.

E'town River Restaurant Expands

The famed E'town River Restaurant in E'town (that's Elizabethtown for those who like to spell out long names) has doubled its capacity with a new floating addition.

News Three reporter Stephanie Tyrpak of WSIL-TV has the story from earlier this month. With the new addition owner Patrick Joyner can now offer another 44 seats and has had to add two additional employees.

The restaurant, which floats on the Ohio River is located just across the street from the River Rose Inn and just down the street from the historic Rose Hotel, both on the Ohio River Scenic Byway.

Comfort Inn Opens, Logan's Roadhouse Sets Date

Marion's latest hotel Comfort Inn opened its doors to guests last month on July 20.

It's located at 2403 Black Diamond Drive behind Sao's Asian Bistro and McAlister's Deli on Morgan Avenue.

Although it sits back off the highway more than most of its competitors, its four stories overshadow the restaurants in front of it and so is visible even from the Illinois Route 13/Halfway Road intersection.

The new hotel has 64 rooms. It takes the place of the former Comfort Inn off of Exit 53. That is now a Quality Inn. Both brands are part of the Choice Hotels International family.

It's the second new hotel to open in Marion this year. A new Holiday Inn Express opened in May.

Down the street and round the bend construction work on Logan's Roadhouse is almost complete. The new restaurant is set to open Sept. 17, according to a sign out front.

The eatery will seat 180 guests which is a smaller model for the brand. In comparison O'Charley's in Marion sits 320.

It may be like Chili's in Carbondale which opened with a smaller venue and almost immediately added on to the facility.

Meanwhile work on the new Panera Bread store shows that it was almost in the dry when I took this photo last week. It should be fully enclosed by the time Hurricane Isaac's rains mark an official end of the drought this weekend.

It's located around the corner again from Logan's Roadhouse on the frontage road along Route 13 in between Drury Inn and America's Best Inns. Panera broke ground for the restaurant last month.

There are still at least two major chain restaurants looking at Marion not counting whatever is looking at the Millennium Development site - Boulder Creek at Marion. One of them is seriously looking at the land immediately north of Logan's. It's been listed as pending on the multiple listing service since earlier this year.

Irish Inn Owners Set to Retire

Today's Daily Register includes my story on the upcoming closing of the Irish Inn near Ozark in Pope County. Owners Brian and Lynne McCreery say it's time to retire after 12 years in the innkeeping business.

As I note in the story just in the last few years the inn has not only been named the "Small Business of the Year locally by the SIC Small Business Development Center in Harrisburg, but has received national recognition as among the Top 14 'Most Romantic,' the Top 10 'Fido Friendly,' and the 'Most International B&B in North America' to just name a few."

Lynne remains a strong supporter of tourism in the region and had good recommendations for those who want to go into the lodging business.

Check out the story for more.

Benton Civic Center Upgrades Building

The expansion and upgrade of the Benton Civic Center is taking longer than expected.

The new finish date is now projected for sometime in October compared to the original Sept. 1 date, according to a story in the Benton Evening News this week.

The project has been three years in the making. In the end the center will be bigger and better say officials allowing them to hold larger concerts and events.

Architect Brian Edmison said the state-of-the-art facility would include a 6,000-foot stage adding the stage would extend 36 feet beyond the former back wall.

“The roof will be 50 feet tall,” he said. “The only thing taller in Franklin County will be the Wood Building. That excludes towers and other structures. The height is needed to raise and lower scenery for theatrical productions.”

Edmison said two side sections would also be renovated to elevate the floor and install an orchestra pit 6 feet, 6 inches below the stage.

Click here for a slide show of the construction progress.

Investors Target Area for Tourism Projects

Hardin County
Two cabins at Timber Ridge Outpost and Cabins opened Memorial Day weekend just off of Karbers Ridge Road a couple of miles away from Garden of the Gods.

Timber Ridge also opened one of their tree houses last week and a larger one now under construction should be finished by Sept. 1.

Elizabeth Canfarelli, one of the owners tells more about the idea for the tree houses.



Harrisburg
A video gaming parlor is being planned for the former Fox Cleaners location at the north end of Parker Plaza, according to shopping center's property manager. No application with the state has been filed yet. At least four other establishments have applied for video gaming licenses with the Illinois Gaming Board.

Marion
Logan's Roadhouse is wrapping up construction on Halfway Road around the road from a new Panera Bread and another restaurant is looking at the land immediately north of them. The Marion location will be the fourth in Illinois for Logan's.

Mr. Koolz Frozen Yogurt is coming to the former Stevens building on Williamson County Parkway across from Walmart and next door to Black Diamond Harley-Davidson. Rent One has purchased the building and is in the process of remodeling it.

Williamson County Commissioner Brent Gentry is opening the new establishment. According to the store's Facebook page, construction is under way and plans are to open next month in August.

Murphysboro
The Southern Illinoisan reported Monday that Martin Schaldemose, owner of the Old Train Depot is planning a major renovation of the historic structure in the 1700 block of West Walnut Street.

The owner said he hoped to begin major reconstruction in two months. He plans to knock out a southwest wall to make space for a larger kitchen. He also said he’s going to build an addition on the west side of the building to increase seating.

He would like to have a café with pastry and fine coffees during the day and transform the space into a “classy and cozy” restaurant with hints of French decorating at night.

A separate building south of the depot would be converted into an ice cream stand and bakery.

Panera Bread Co. Breaks Ground in Marion

Panera Bread broke ground last week next door to Drury Inn. They've been reportedly looking at the area in detail for the last few months, but have been viewing Marion as a possible expansion site for years.

Company spokesperson Kelli Nicholson told Southern Illinois Tourism News today that they hope to open by the Christmas shopping season.

"We are still in process of nailing down a grand opening date, but it’s looking like it will open mid to late November 2012," Nicholson said. "We have been looking for the perfect opportunity in Marion for several years, and now we feel we have a great location to serve the Marion community."

"We have a successful café located in Carbondale, IL that has a lot of customers that travel from Marion to Carbondale to eat at Panera several times per week, so we’re hoping we’ll be well received in Marion! The new café will have a nice patio with plenty of parking. Additionally, we offer a great catering service, where we offer a special menu for larger groups and delivery is available."

The building permit shows an estimated cost of $801,000 for the new restaurant's construction.

Movement Made in Marion STAR Bonds

Since the two-year anniversary of Gov. Pat Quinn's signing of the STAR Bonds legislation for Marion in June, more details are slowly coming out about two of three key components about the project.

I reported in The Daily Register of Harrisburg on July 10, "Quietly, progress made in STAR Bonds deal" with both Marion Mayor Bob Butler and state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, confirming a high-level meeting at Rent One Park between local officials, Holland officials and developers.

Both guarded their comments due to a two-page confidentiality agreement they signed at the meeting, but both were definitely brighter and more upbeat than their comments made a year ago.

Now, there's "two principals showing great interest," according to Marion Mayor Bob Butler. "Everything's coming along as well as could be expected at this point."

A few days later Chad Holland spoke to the Southern Illinoisan and WSIL-TV with additional information. He didn't name names, but at least identified what categories the "two principals" would fill in the development.

As the television station reported July 17:

"Right now we're working with a destination user and a destination hotel, which is a water park hotel," said Chad Holland of Holland Construction, lead developer on the project.

The groups are still negotiating a deal, but Holland said they're serious about coming.

"They've been to Marion a couple of times. They're doing economic impact studies, they're doing site plans. I talked to the destination user on Wednesday last week, and they're deciding what size store they want to build."

To put that in context, those would be something along the lines of a Great Wolf Lodge for the hotel and a Cabela's or Bass Pro Shop for the destination user. I have no idea if those are the companies involved, but those have been the names bandied about two years ago when the Hollands were still giving examples.

The STAR Bonds legislation set a requirement of at least one (and no more than two) destination user(s) or major retailers, and one entertainment user (theme park or other major tourist destination driver) in order for the district to be activated. The destination hotel was something added to the Marion legislation that wasn't in the Glen Carbon version of the bill. It's not required to kick-start the project, but its tourist draw makes it an indirect requirement since the legislation allows for a smaller entertainment user than the early versions of the legislation required.

The whole idea behind the STAR Bonds is that it only makes sense for the state to subsidize the associated retail development if the shoppers are mostly from surrounding states and not simply cannibalizing existing in-state stores. Thus the need for the tourist attractions.

Holland told the Southern Illinoisan additional information about the number of times the developers have visited Marion.

The destination user has been to Marion twice, the company’s owner once and representative of the water park hotel have visited the city twice, Holland said.

“Things are progressing, right now we’re at their mercy,” he said. “They move as fast as they want to move.”

... Holland said the owner of a destination user told him he loved the spot, wanted to build in Marion and wanted to fore-go a letter of intent in favor of committing to a lease or sales contract.

The developers of both projects are currently doing site studies and economic analyzes to determine the site of their stores. Both media outlets reported Holland expecting some announcements in the next couple of months.

No word yet on an entertainment user, which suggests they've already got something lined up.

In order to be approved by the Illinois Department of Revenue the law requires a master plan must be developed showing at least $100 million in investments that would generate at least $100 million in annual sales taxes as well as the creation of a minimum of 500 jobs.

Oil Leasing Boom Boosting Mount Vernon Occupancy

According to oil and gas officials by way of a Southern Illinois lawmaker the flurry of oil and gas leasing in the east half of the region in preparation for a potentially massive oil boom has already boosted occupancy rates in Mount Vernon. Neighboring Wayne County and Hamilton County are the current hot spots for leasing after three companies started in Saline County last year.

State Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, passed along the tidbit Thursday during the last day of the spring session in what was either the second or third interview of the day. A surprise move by a liberal college-town representative change an all-parties agreed upon fracking bill into one that would cause a two-year moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing, a technique that's been used for more than 60 years in Illinois.

Phelps and region's other lawmakers of both political persuasions blocked consideration of the bill and possibly saved hundreds if not thousands of potential jobs coming to the region. Fracking and horizontal drilling is expected to begin this summer. If they find oil in the New Albany Shale formation about a mile under the surface like they have in the Bakken formation up in North Dakota all bets are off for the region.

My story quotes Phelps as describing it as a potential $100 billion industry. I'm pretty sure that was with a "b" and not an "m" in the figures. Already oil and gas officials briefed lawmakers Thursday about the current impact of the potential boom.

Phelps noted that right now he was told, "(We) have 200 land men in Southern Illinois representing 10 companies. Hotel occupancies are up 20 percent in Mount Vernon alone."

My story from April talks more about the history of fracking in the region.

Southern Illinois lawmakers aren't the only ones who have been briefed about the potential for the region.

Even U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois who has been vocal in his support of new federal regulations targeting the use of coal expressed support for fracking during his visit to Harrisburg earlier [in April].

"You know we're going to ask all the right questions because there are legitimate concerns, but we've found it can be done safely if it is carefully regulated. We don't want in any way to contaminate water supplies in the process. We don't want to put anyone's public health in danger. We just want it done in a thoughtful careful manner that will call for some government oversight and regulation to make it work," Durbin explained.

...the Democratic senator would rather see the regulations take place at the federal level...

"If it can be done in that way it's a source of energy that we never dreamed of that's just sitting there waiting to be tapped," said Durbin who remained coy at giving an exact value to its potential, only pointing to the oil boom taking place in the Bakkan shale formation in North Dakota...

So how big is the Bakken boom? Well, first, Mount Vernon's higher occupancy rates may only be the beginning.

Williston, N.D., is the center of the new oil boom. KPAX-TV reported May 8 that Williston saw 10 hotels open last year with six or seven ready to open later his summer. At one point the Holiday Inn was charging $250 a night.

When I wrote my story quoting Durbin, North Dakota was the nation's third-largest oil-producing state. Since then on May 15, the Wall Street Journal reported North Dakota has now surpassed Alaska as the nation's second largest oil-producing state. Only Texas produces more oil.