Has Marion's Garden Been Pruned?

While I'm not usually one for the tabloid headline, this one was too good to pass up.

For years now going on a quarter century Darden Restaurants, parent company of Red Lobster, Olive Gardens and LongHorn Steakhouse, has been looking at Marion for the site of a new Olive Gardens. They've never confirmed it, but city officials have, as have managers of some of the other chain restaurants in town who have taken note whenever reps of their future competition appear in town

A few years ago Marion Mayor Robert L. Butler hinted their renewed interest without mentioning them by name.

As a Realtor with Paul Wilson Realty LLC working on commercial prospects I've come across references of even which lots have even been under consideration at different times - the outlot next to the Holiday Inn Express up on The Hill, the empty lot on the corner of Halfway Road across from MidCountry Bank, the current location of what's left of America's Best Inn back when Panera's was being built.

The latest rumors had them locating on the new access road on the south side of Route 13 west of Sam's Club. When the city council last year named that new stretch as Garden Way, I viewed it as all but confirmation and even predicted if a new crossroad was built the city might consider Olive Alley for the new name.

However close though that deal came, it's apparently now fallen through. The mayor indicated last week that a decision had been made to curb the chain's expansion plans, a decision that had nothing to do with Marion in particular, but larger issues affecting the company.

A check this morning of the company's 2013 Annual Report backs that up. Because of weak sales at their three major chains in 2012 and early 2013 the company began to restructure both its marketing efforts as well as core menu items. Sales began to turn around by the end of the year, but that's still impacting their plans for expansion.

... we are significantly reducing new restaurant expansion at Olive Garden, going from the 35 to 40 net new openings we have had each year for the past few years to approximately 15. With this change, we believe the brand can better focus on regaining same-restaurant traffic momentum and on making the guest experience changes required for sustained success.

So what does that mean? At one point city officials understood Marion to not only be part of the next 30 restaurants set for construction, but one of the next five locations to be sited. Then, Darden decided to stop all expansions, so Marion was out. Now, the annual report suggests that 15 will be built. So is Marion back in?

Right now Darden operates 828 Olive Garden restaurants which sold $3.7 billion worth of pasta and assorted delicious calories last year. That's $4.6 million in sales for each restaurant. Assuming Marion would be average, that's $161,000 a year in local sales taxes to the city, county and schools funds, hence one of the key reasons why officials have been keen to land one of these.

For comparison purposes, the average Red Lobster has sales of $3.7 million and an average LongHorn Steakhouse, $3 million.

Groundbreaking for Airport Terminal Set for Fall

Williamson County Airport Manager Doug Kimmel told the Southern Illinoisan that the board will review bids for a new terminal later this summer with a groundbreaking set for this summer.

Although the airport has been working on this for years, it's only been in the last two years that they've exceeded 10,000 passengers a year, the threshold to qualify for federal construction funds. (Technically, this is the first time since the recession.)

Kimmel says the project will take 18 months. State funds (or at least the federal monies flowing through IDOT) were announced earlier this month as part of IDOT's new five year plan.

Wyoming-based Great Lakes Airlines serves the airport with daily flights to St. Louis.

For a history of the terminal efforts, check out the last few paragraphs of the previous post about the state's transportation upcoming projects.

Gov's Road Map Won't Finish 6-Lane Projects

The five-year road map for transportation spending unveiled this week by Gov. Pat Quinn fails to include any funding to finish both the Route 13 widening between John A. Logan College and Carbondale, or the Interstate 57 widening between Interstates 24 and 64.

The spending plan includes both the upcoming FY 2015 and the next five fiscal years ending on June 30, 2020. Quinn outlined details of the plan Wednesday. Only the $71 million I-64 replacement bridge over the Wabash River made the highlight reel.

Under the last five-year plan the state poured millions in to new construction projects, starting the Route 13 widening between Marion and the college as well as the rebuild of the Route 13/I-57 interchange and development of the new Morgan Avenue exchange on the north side of Marion.

Overall, the plan includes few new construction projects for Southern Illinois focusing, as almost always, on resurfacing and basic maintenance. That means few economic game-changers so when the existing construction now underway on Route 13 and the I-57 interchange ends, that's it for now.

As to the widening of I-57 in Williamson, Franklin and Jefferson Counties, the only project on the list that appears connected at all is replacement of the I-57 bridges over Atchinson Creek two miles north of the Ina interchange.

Over the last few years IDOT has been replacing the bridges on I-57 between Interstates 24 and 64 with 6-lane structures in preparation for widening this stretch of the interstate. Besides the bridges they also will have to rebuild some of the overpasses used by smaller roads such as Westminster Drive on the south side of Marion.

The largest project on the list for the region - the Wabash River bridge on the state line - will be led by IDOT, but paid in part by Indiana.

Although the higher profile projects are not included in the governor's plan, hope remains. Lawmakers have been talking about a new capital spending plan for sometime. High profile projects usually get saved for those in order to get lawmakers to support the higher fees and/or taxes to pay for them.

The most interesting brick and mortar projects included actually aren't road projects at all, but mass transit and air transportation.

Rides Mass Transit District which serves much of southeastern Illinois should get three new buildings out of the deal - a $1 million administration building to replace their existing one, $1.5 million for a new maintenance and dispatch facility, both to be located in Harrisburg, as well as $1.8 million for a new District Transfer Center to be located in Marion.

This is in addition to $2.45 million to replace four 35-foot, three super medium duty, and eight medium duty diesel buses as well as one minivan.

After years of delay in part caused by the recession, the Williamson County Airport will be getting a new $10 million terminal building. This Phase I and Phase II work is slated for funding in FY 2015, which is the budget year beginning this July 1.

It's been at least seven or eight years since the airport authority started serious discussions on a new terminal. Before the recession in 2007, the airport had two airlines offering scheduled service, one to St. Louis and the other to Chicago, and a third airline planning flights to Las Vegas and Orlando. The latter deal fell apart before any planes got off the ground, but not until after the airport had made changes to the terminal to handle the larger flights.

Rend Lake Resort Upgrades Rooms

Today's Southern Illinoisan reports on the $400,000 renovation of the Rend Lake Resort and Conference Center at Wayne Fitzgerald State Park.

Over the past two years, every guest room on the property, including those in The Flagship, Windjammer and Schooner botels, cabins and the hotel, was remodeled as were public areas like lobbies.

“It’s like coming into a brand new place,” resort concessionaire John Reilly said. “The rooms have been completely redone.”

The resort’s 105 guest rooms have new beds, mattresses, box springs, linens, lighting and drapes and are equipped with flat screen televisions, microwaves, coffeemakers and small refrigerators.

The resort opened in 1990 and the renovation should restore the luster of the lakeside facility and conference center. Now if the underfunded Department of Natural Resources would just try to focus on their own maintenance and upkeep at the park, all would be well.

Harrisburg Moving Toward New TIF, Developments

The Harrisburg City Council held a public hearing this Thursday to consider establishing the city's second TIF district. The targeted area includes both the down as well as land along the new Route 13 Bypass (Bill Franks Way). Unlike most council meetings the council chambers proved to be standing room only.

The council is expected to approved the district on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Meanwhile the city remains in negotiations with an Indiana theater chain to locate an 8-plex cinema in the former Mad Pricer building at the north end of Commercial Street (Route 45). The city and any would-be developer has until the end of the year to get a redevelopment agreement approved for the soon-to-be expiring TIF 1.

With all the focus on the bypass that fully opened last summer, there's been plenty of effort near the old intersection of Routes 13 and 45 at Poplar and Commercial. Wortman-Meyer Properties has broke ground for a new convenience store/truck stop at the northeast corner of the intersection. The station replaces both an old shuttered gas station as well as a small strip mall behind it that caught fire and suffered extensive damage.

No word as to what name the station will operated under. Randy Meyer, the principle in Wortman-Meyer Properties also runs Meyer Oil Co. out of Teutopolis, Illinois, that operates convenience stores under the Mach 1 name. A Subway is also planned for the Harrisburg store.

Although they asked for a variety of incentives in the end the city agreed only to build the extension of Locust Street from Route 45 east to the city limits that will run along the north side of the development.

Across the street to the northwest at the intersection of Locust and Commercial Streets the city council approved earlier this month the sale of the lot to Diederich Properties of Marion, according to the Daily Register. Jeffery Diederich owns Speakeasy Liquors in Marion and Herrin, which operates as an upscale liquor and cigar store. He has already applied for a liquor license at that location.

According to information included with the bid the intended store will be 5,300 square feet with a drive-through and parking areas.

Diederich Properties states in the bid it has a firm commitment from a general contractor commence construction within 30 days of closing the transaction.

The estimated project investment between both Diederich Properties and its tenant, Speakeasy Liquors is $1,900,000 and is estimated to create 12 jobs in Harrisburg.

The floorplan includes a walk-in humidor, premium liquor room, red wine cellar, white wine and Champagne Cellar, walk-in cooler and a beer cave.

Down Route 45 to the south Knapp Oil appears to be at last halfway finished in the construction of their new convenience store in front of the new Walmart. Likewise the reconstruction of the strip mall beside the supercenter destroyed in last year's tornado appears to be nearly complete as well.

Street Name Hints at Long-Awaited Restaurant

A new road name may provide a clue to a new development rumored for Marion's west side.

The Marion City Council voted 4-0 last night to adopt Resolution 2013-36 naming the new Route 13 frontage road between Walton Way and Skyline Drive that's on the south side of the highway. The resolution names the road Garden Avenue. The resolution also renamed the existing Bradford St. behind Absher Motors to Garden Avenue as well.

Currently there are no garden establishments on that stretch of road, most of which remains closed to public until work progresses enough on the Route 13 railroad overpass to close the existing at-grade highway crossing. When that happens the railroad will allow the new railroad crossing on Garden to open.

City officials had been mixed on the new name as late as a month ago. Although logically they could have simply kept the Walton Way name for the new stretch, engineers wanted to keep the Bradford name and add it to the new stretch.

As the city has a history of naming roads on the west side after businesses or developers, this name may be an important clue. Walton Way is named for the late Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam's Club fame who actually visited Marion when his club opened a couple of decades ago. 17th Street is named for 17th Street Bar & Grill, and there are many more examples as well.

While there's no official hint as to what Garden Avenue means, and absolutely no discussion of the name given at the council meeting, it would probably be safe to assume if another street goes in and needs a name, the city could consider name it Olive Alley.

If you haven't figured it out by now, think about one of the country's top Italian restaurant franchises. It's a chain that's been looking at Marion off and on since its sister franchise Red Lobster opened back in the earliest days of the Illinois Centre mall.

A few years ago Marion Mayor Bob Butler mentioned that a long-rumored restaurant had settled on a site in Marion. It was believed to be a reference to this chain. Around that time another source hinted at the restaurant in question and a site along the south side of the highway.

I could be wrong and we could get nothing, or a Garden Inn by Hilton, but there hasn't been anything on a new hotel, other than the upcoming expansion of Country Inn & Suites. All the talk has focused on restaurants.

This new stretch of property opening up is all due to the Route 13 six-lane expansion project. With the new lanes and the new railroad overpass knocking out direct access to the mall there at Toys 'R Us, the state agreed to develop the access road on the south side. With the railroad not agreeing to another at-grade crossing, and IDOT refusing to allow commercial development on the south property unless an access road was built, the landowners on the south side were caught in a Catch-22 situation.

Chain restaurants that specialize in dinner regularly want to be on the side of the road with the heaviest evening traffic flow. For the west side of Marion that means the side closest to the east-bound lanes of Route 13 as they approach the interstate.

The new road should create at least four or five good-size outlots on the Reinbold and Campbell properties with high visibility. When the road opens highway access will initially be from Skyline Drive on the west and Williamson County Parkway on the east by Sam's Club. Mall traffic will also be able to use Marathon Drive by Toys 'R Us and drive under the highway over to Garden Avenue.

The city has proposed a new TIF district to cover the two aforementioned properties. A hearing on the proposal will take place prior to the next council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m. with the regular council meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. A previous TIF covers the property between it and Skyline Drive where the 1960s-era furniture store is slated for demolition.

Part of the new TIF proceeds will be used to extend the mall entrance road at Red Lobster and O'Charley's (Sinclair Dr.) south to the new Garden Avenue. That will make the existing three-way intersection a four-way intersection.

A public hearing concerning an amendment to TIF 1 will take place the same night at 6 p.m.

Downtown Upgrades on Focus for Marion, Mount Vernon

Rare Chop House at 224 S. 10th St. in Mount Vernon.

New restaurants and new projects have targeted the downtowns of the King City and the Hub of the Universe this summer.

Developed behind the scenes by an executive of a local industry who saw the need for a top of the line restaurant in town the new Rare Chop House held its grand opening August 29. It's located in a restored three-story downtown building at 224 S. 10th St. in Mount Vernon, one block south of the courthouse on Illinois Rt. 37. The building formerly was home to a True Value franchise.

The website at RareChopHouse.com is just a page with basic information at the moment. More information can be found at the establishment's Facebook page. Jason Piercy is general management and hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

At a book signing last week at the former Grenada Theatre, now the Grenada Center for the Performing Arts, I learned that a new independent book store will be moving in next door. The owners say they are six to nine months away from opening.

The city's use of tax increment financing appears to be paying off. The downtown buildings looked as good as I've ever seen them.

The relatively new Hub TIF District in Marion is also starting to see payoffs for the downtown area.

Purple Peacock and Latta Java at 410-412 N. Market St. in Marion

After Hurst-Roche Engineers rehabbed 200 N. Market St. two years ago with a covered porch, a second building is adding a permanent cover for its customers as well as some outdoor living space on the second floor.

The Purple Peacock has been upgrading its buildings over the last year further up the street. The building hosts both the antique store as well as Latta Java, a local coffee shop.

New restaurants and bars are also looking at downtown.
The Vault Cafe opened earlier this year on the ground floor of the historic five-story Marion State and Savings Bank building at 504 Tower Square Plaza.

Also the old Marion City Hall at 100 Tower Square Plaza is also currently undergoing renovation for what is supposed to be a restaurant. Just down the alley the former Mollie's that sold last year has reopened as Miss Kitty's Cathouse and Lounge. On East Main Street a new Mexican restaurant is under construction across from Washington Grade School.

City officials hope to see the trend continue. They will be holding a meeting with business and building owners in the downtown area in early October to go over details of a new $10,000 low interest loan program for building upgrades and improvements.

I-57 Interchange Ahead of Schedule

The massive two-year I-57/IL Rt 13 interchange project in Marion that isn't supposed to be finished until next year may open fully finished before the end of 2013, according to Mayor Robert L. Butler.

Learned a few other updates from him yesterday about Marion developments. Nothing new on the STAR Bonds project, based on past conversations with him and state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, the would-be developers looking to step into Bruce Holland's shoes are waiting for the road projects to be completed.

Last year's drought helped the construction of the new rebuild of the Exit 54 interchange, but the mayor's still waiting for construction to begin on the connections and upgrade of the Morgan Avenue interchange. The additional overpass is up, but remains unconnected with Morgan Avenue.

Crews have finally begun earthwork on the new access road off of the south side of Morgan and on the west side of the interstate that will provide access to the north end of the old Holiday Inn/Executive Inn hotel and the mobile home sales lot at the southwest corner of Morgan and I-57. Due to restrictions on entrances too close to the interchange IDOT purchase access rights from the property owners and agreed to build the new access road. One thing different from the original design, the road will not hit Morgan opposite the Holiday Inn Express entrance, but a bit to the east.

Meanwhile work continues on the six-lane expansion of Route 13 from I-57 east to Court Street, the new overpass of the Burlington Northern on Route 13 by the Illinois Centre Mall (I'll add the "Star" to the name when the new owners get around to actually changing their signage). Once traffic can be redirected onto the new overpass and the area around Skyline Drive and the new extension of Walton Way is finished, that new road will be opened.

On the jobs front the owners of the former Circuit City building are hot on one or two tenants for giant warehouse and distribution center on the west side of town. If successful it could mean around 300 jobs.

New Harmony Seeks to Save Bridge

According to TheSouthern.com, folks in New Harmony, Indiana, are seeking ways to save their bridge over the Wabash River that's been closed since May 2012.

...The Harmony Way Bridge Committee began meeting this summer to work on proposals for the 83-year-old New Harmony Bridge.

The span was operated for decades by a private commission as a toll bridge until inspections last year found extensive deterioration, prompting its closure in May 2012. Indiana officials have said replacement costs could be as much as $25 million.

Businesses in both Indiana and Illinois have been hurt by the bridge's closure, committee member Linda Henning of Crossville, Ill., told the Evansville Courier & Press.

The group is looking at having the city buy the bridge and issue bonds which would be covered by bridge tolls.

One thing that could help is if Illinois extended a spur from the Ohio River National Scenic Byway from New Haven (where the current byway crosses into Illinois, up through White County to the New Harmony bridge. Indiana already has a spur of the byway leading to the tourist town.

The move could generate some additional traffic as well as give the bridge some additional points when it comes to grants.

Grayville Prepares for Oil Boom

"Let the Boom Begin" is the theme for this weekend's Grayville Days. Located in the heart of the Illinois Basin, White and Edwards Counties can't wait for the start of a new fracking-inspired oil boom. 

They remember the first post-war oil boom in the region in 1950, and while there's still a number of small independent oil producers and oil drilling suppliers, it's nothing like what the region may face if North Dakota-size boom develops over the next few years.

As the picture above shows even the local nursing home is getting into the action with their float.

Below is a sample of the oil equipment residents hope to see much more over the coming months, from Franklin Well Services of Vincennes, Indiana.

Mount Vernon Makes Progress

Drury Inn & Suites (under construction - August 2013)


The new 180-room Drury Inn & Suites continues to take shape in Mount Vernon at the interchange of Interstates 57/64 and Illinois Rt. 13. When complete the hotel will also include 3,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space.

The project started in March and replaces a previous Drury Inn and Thrifty Inn on the north side of the highway at 44th Street.

The project also included demolition of the shuttered Best Western (originally built as the Ramada Inn, more than decades earlier). No word yet on what new restaurants or retailers Drury has promised to bring to their development. That northeast quadrant of the interchange also includes Steak 'n Shake, Dale's Harley-Davidson and GenKota Winery.

Down the highway to the east the owners of the Times Square Mall are aggressively seeking new tenants and replacements for Sears. The mall, which first opened in 1974, is currently owned by Pine Tree Commercial Realty, LLC, of Northbrook, St. Louis-based Sansone Group and Elgin-based Wanxiang America Real Estate Group.

Last week the owners announced Hobby Lobby had signed a lease for 52,729 sq. ft. in what had formerly occupied by Sears.

"Kicking off with Hobby Lobby puts our leasing of the soon-to-be-vacant areas of the center in fast gear," said Pine Tree Ex. Vice-President Bruce Boruszak who promised announcements of "additional major new leases in coming weeks."

Meanwhile work continues on the widening and rebuild of Interstates 57/64. As of June 3, IDOT esimated the work at 68 percent complete with completion expected by Dec. 1 this year.

The project includes adding a third lane in both directions "to mitigate traffic congestion... The work consists of new continusouly reinforced concrete pavement, earthwork to build the new lanes and correct slope deficiencies, culvert extensions, guardrail upgrades, pipe underdrains, patching and bridge deck repairs."

The project is the first step in the eventual six-laning of Interstate 57 from its intersection with Interstate 24 south of Marion north to where I-57 and 64 split north of Mount Vernon.

A second phase of the additional lanes also started this summer between Marion and Johnston City.

Missing Pool Hints at Hotel Expansion

First it was the north building of America's Best Inns in Marion that bit the dust to make way for Jim Zeller's Country Inn & Suites back in 2008. Now five years later, the Best Inns pool has literally gone to dust as crews rode their roller back and forth today over the former aquatic amenity.

Zeller actually bought the land, the 60' by 175' tract, back in May for $15 a square foot, which seems to be going rate for commercial property along Halfway Road.

While no official announcement has been made it's believed the move is part of a larger expansion plan which should result in an additional hotel for Marion utilizing at least some of the vacant Drury Inn property off of Morgan Avenue.

UPDATE: [8/24/13] For now the expansion seems to be limited to another nine extended-stay rooms on the north side of the Country Inn & Suites. The new 60' feet of ground leveled off this past week will be parking.

As of Thursday, no building permits had been filed yet with the city.

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.