DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Decatur's population and property levels have dropped to record lows in 2020. But now, Deputy City Manager Jon Kindseth says Decatur is on the rebound. This improvement is due to several new industrial developments.
"The city was doing about a hundred million dollars a year of new investments," said Kindseth. "In the last three years, we've had over 3 billion dollars in new investment ... in addition in the last two years alone, our property values have almost recovered by 20 percent."
Kindseth said some of the biggest new investments are the Broadwing Clean Energy Complex, InnovaFeed Insect Protein Plant, ADM Alternative Protein Expansion, and Tillamook Ice Cream Plant. While some of these building are using new facilities, others are helping revitalize older facilities.
The new growth will bring an estimated 1,200 new permanent jobs. The construction itself will bring 15,000-25,000 construction jobs according to Kindseth. While the growth is a good thing, the deputy city manager says Decatur may struggle with growing pains.
"Decatur is in a relatively unique situation, in that we have an overabundance of substandard derelict housing that nobody wants to live in .... on any given day in the city of Decatur, we have somewhere between 500 to 1000 vacant homes sitting there," said Kindseth. "We need market rate housing that people want to live in and so there's a huge gap in housing, you know what I would say probably between $100,000 and $150,000."
Kindseth said Decatur's housing market is the reason 6,000 people commute into Decatur a day instead of living in the area. The city is discussing creating a new TIFF district to improve select blighted neighborhoods throughout the city. As part of their initiative to restore housing options, the city plans to demolish between 100-200 vacant or abandoned houses a year.
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