Local and state dignitaries joined to break ground Tuesday afternoon on the Elgin Artspace Lofts in downtown Elgin. (Ted Schnell • BocaJump)By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Oct. 18
City, county and state officials gathered with the public inside 51 Spring St. in downtown Elgin late Tuesday morning, Oct. 18, to praise a $14.5 million project they believe will help revitalize the Center City area and build upon Elgin’s reputation as a cultural center.
Just minutes after the speeches, the crowd stepped outside for the official groundbreaking. With the sounds of construction equipment already reverberating around the site, local dignitaries wielded shovels that had been decorated as pieces of art to turn the first official shovelfuls of earth on the Elgin Artspace Lofts project, a suburban artists’ colony of sorts whose construction is expected to take 13 months.
The dignitaries who spoke lauded the project as a symbol of hope for Elgin’s arts community and for the city’s continuing efforts to revitalize its downtown. The lofts project has been in the making since 2007 and will bring 55 “live/work” housing units, as well as 5,800 square feet of “arts-friendly” retail space, to the downtown area.
Mayor David Kaptain singled out for honors former Mayor Ed Schock, who was among the local, county and state dignitaries who used the shiny, decorated shovels for the groundbreaking. Kaptain praised Schock for leading and shepherding the project through during his final years as mayor.
New mayor shares his excitement
Kaptain, who defeated Schock in the city’s spring mayoral and city council elections six months ago, was visibly excited as he discussed the opportunities the project represents, both as a “centerpiece” for the downtown area and for its potential to further Elgin’s reputation as an arts center in the northwest suburbs.
“I can’t go forward with this project without giving credit to (former) Mayor Ed Schock,” Kaptain said. “It was part of Ed’s vision that was building a centerpiece for the downtown and defining Elgin as an arts community, and I think that’s happening.”
The mayor recalled how Schock approached him several years ago when Kaptain was a councilman, and how he became caught up in Schock’s enthusiasm for the project and its potential.
“This is going to be a cornerstone” for the arts in Elgin, Kaptain said. “We have an arts community that goes back a half a century. We’re pulling all these pieces together to create a center where people can come to visit and to live.”
Kaptain said his support for the project also goes back to his support for sustainability — specifically, that people need to live where they work, and the Artspace project provides for that need.
“This is a classic example of what that should be like: People can live in this building and ply their craft, and hopefully, my vision is that it would be only temporary — that they would move out into the community and become residents, purchase a home in the city of Elgin,” Kaptain said. “We all talk about infrastructure and what it will do for our community: This will create 170 jobs in our community, and I think that’s huge in a town that’s suffering from unemployment in a down economy.”
He added that he’s so excited about then project, he wants to hold a ribbon-cutting on Aug. 1, even though it is not scheduled for completion until November 2012,.
Private donors contribute $500,000
Other speakers included state Rep. Keith Farnham and Sen. Michael Noland, the Elgin Democrats who supported the project in Springfield; filmmaker Gwydhar Bratton, who one day hopes to lift in the lofts; Kane County Board Chairwoman Karen McConnaughay; and Mark Harris, the deputy chief of staff for Gov. Pat Quinn.
Longtime Elgin business executive Mark Seigle, also credited for his support of the project, was another who spoke during the ceremony leading up to the groundbreaking. Seigle held up Elgin for its rich cultural and socioeconomic diversity and as a longtime arts center, pointing to the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and Youth Orchestra, a jazz band, numerous theater companies, choral unions and even opera.
He also announced that local fundraising efforts brought in more than $500,000 to the Elgin Artpsace Lofts project from local companies, corporations, foundations, families and individuals.
Former mayor pleased, optimistic
Schock was among the dignitaries who turned the first ceremonial shovels filled with earth for the project, and after the groundbreaking, expressed his excitement about the project.
“I think this is just a huge project for Elgin. It’s going to continue the growth of our arts community … and secondly, … to have residential construction in any downtown right now is practically unheard of,” he said. “It’s really big.”
Prior to the groundbreaking, Artspace Property Development Director Heidi Kurtze said the project represents an effort to support local artists and to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of local art. She praised the city’s leadership and support for the project from its inception.
She also praised the Illinois Housing Development Authority for providing Artspace with the low-income housing tax credits that were needed to drive the project forward. She also praised Kane County’s contribution to the effort, and Artspace’s lender and investor Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
