4/22/2016
Brian Leaf, RRStar

ROCKFORD — Over the past six summers a party market in a parking lot became a ritual celebration that drew thousands of new visitors to downtown, the historic center of regional commerce before malls and highways pulled Rockford apart at its urban core. Organizers hoped City Market would be a steppingstone to reviving downtown. It has been that, seeding businesses in vacant storefronts while changing the image of a once crumbling downtown where people believed nothing happened — at least nothing good — into a place on the rise. People came downtown, parked their cars and walked. They walked to the market, then into businesses to shop, eat and party some more. As City Market gets ready for its seventh summer, there will be a big new catalyst in town: UW Health Sports Factory. Thousands of people are expected to come to watch or play in weekend tournament games at the $24.4 million facility that will open in June. “The next big thing on the horizon is increased visitors in downtown Rockford,” said Peter Provenzano, president of the Rock River Development Partnership, the group that launched City Market in 2010. Between games at the Sports Factory, visitors will be looking for places to shop, eat, sleep and be entertained nearby. Their presence downtown will likely stimulate commercial growth that will follow the foot traffic. One hundred years ago, downtown Rockford was a traffic hub. People walked to shops, banks, workplaces, restaurants and theaters. Visitors rented hotel rooms After World War II, subdivisions eroded downtown’s commercial clout as people moved to the city's fringes from its center. Business investment followed the rooftops. Malls and interstates accelerated change, leaving downtown with little traffic and a lot of vacant buildings. City Market helped bring some traffic back downtown. Weekly attendance grew five-fold between 2010 and 2015 to an average of 5,000, as growing numbers of people made it a point to go downtown Friday night to shop, catch a band, reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. City Market, Provenzano said, is a place where people run into friends they haven't seen in a while and they make the rounds to vendors. It's created a sense of place, a destination that has helped lift the economic fortunes of the central city. “We've married economy with ritual, we've married ritual with party and it's worked really well for the fixed commercial businesses in storefronts downtown, and helped incubate new businesses,” Provenzano said. Woodfire Brick Oven Pizza, Bella Luna Bakery, and Bath & Body Fusion are among City Market vendors that went from tents to downtown brick-and-mortar businesses. Now the game shifts to catering to out-of-town visitors. Projections are that a half-million visitors a year will attend events at the Sports Factory. That traffic is expected to have impact reaching far beyond the walls of the rectangular building on the Rock River. Page 2 of 2 - New restaurants, hotels and stores catering to the needs of visitors are on the horizon. “Projections on that facility are that it would take three to five years to get it to full capacity,” said Todd Cagnoni, the city’s director of community and economic development. “But it appears that (Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau) and the Rockford Park District are ahead of the curve. Success may be quicker than they anticipated.” While downtown will become a sports destination with the opening of the Sports Factory, downtown also is becoming a place to live. Developers anticipate that more young professionals will move downtown to new apartments being constructed in historic buildings. Justin Fern, president of Urban Equity Properties, says his projects will bring 112 loft apartments to the downtown market this year. He expects a similar volume in 2017 and 2018. His company’s projects, which include both living and retail space, include Seventh Street and the Rockford Trust building at West State and Wyman streets, where a historic office building is being converted into residential space. “The Trust building alone is going to have so much impact downtown,” Fern said. “It's going to be immense. When you're bringing 62, not just apartments, but luxury lofts, you're talking about folks who spend money.” Brian Leaf: 815-987-1343; bleaf@rrstar.com @b_leaf


For More Information:
http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160422/transform-rockford-next-big-thing-for-downtown-rockford