By Alex Gary - May 17th 2024

 

ROSCOE

The Village of Roscoe is looking to create a second commercial corridor with two projects along Main Street.

In the coming weeks, the village will bulldoze a house near the southwest corner of Main and Bridge streets to make way for a multi-use parking lot and public space.

Later this fall, students from the Hononegah Community High School construction classes will begin building 12-by-12-foot retail huts for a pop-up retail market on the southeast corner of Main Street and Hodges Run.

“So many people use (Main) street as a cut-through to avoid the lights on (Illinois) 251,” said Carol Gustafson, who is serving her first term as Village President. “We want them to stop, linger and spend some money.”

Roscoe already has a pretty healthy commercial corridor at Illinois 251 and the Hononegah/ Elevator road intersection. According to Illinois Department of Revenue figures, the village received $2.2 million in sales tax revenue in 2023. In Illinois, 1% out of the 6.25% you pay in sales tax goes back to the jurisdiction — city, village or county — where it was spent.

In comparison, Rockton received $1.6 million

in sales tax revenue in 2023 and South Beloit retailers generated $1.42 million.

Still, the amount of sales revenue received by Roscoe in 2023 declined from $2.32 million in 2022 and $2.35 million in 2021.

Gustafson, who won her first term as Roscoe Village President in April 2023 after serving as a trustee for 12 years, said Main Street has been underutilized because much of it is residential housing. “I’ve had people in my office every week saying they’d like to open something on Main Street but there’s no place to do it,” she said. The multi-use lot will serve as a parking lot much of the time, but it is being designed so that it can host food truck events and retail or farmer’s markets. The Hodges Run plan is to have eight to 12 small retail huts that can serve as an “a business incubator.”

“We think these two developments will redefine Main Street,” she said.

Communities across the country have been pouring resources into creating strong commercial corridors to draw people in to the center of their communities. Beloit and all of the redevelopment work done along East Grand Avenue is an example. Rockton has been lucky for years to have a well defined Main Street that is home to several stores and restaurants.

The multi-use lot should be ready for use by fall, Gustafson said. The Hodges Run project won’t be completed until 2025.

The multi-use lot will serve as a parking lot much of the time, but it is being designed so that it can host food truck events and retail or farmer’s markets.

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