Artists could breathe new life into historic armory
The Rockford Area Arts Council is eyeing a public-private partnership to turn the dilapidated former Illinois National Guard Armory at 605 N. Main St. into the potential home of a cultural civic center that would blend about 30 artist live-work lofts with gallery, performance and multiple arts organization office spaces.
Located next to the Rockford Riverfront Museum Park, Mary McNamara Bernsten, executive director of the arts council, envisions something that is like an extension of the museum campus and that creates an arts and culture complex.
So far the idea is only that — an estimated $45 million vision of what’s possible. And the armory isn’t the only location under consideration. The arts council has also taken a look at the Midway Theater as a possibility near its current offices where there were once 20 air conditioned apartments and a stage.
“Those are major undertakings,” Bernsten said. “We have had discussions with groups like Gorman and Co., Fehr Graham, Urban Equity Properties and the city of Rockford in terms of what something like that will take.”
Although not spelled out in the recently revealed 98-page Rockford Region Cultural Plan, it calls for redeveloping “blighted, ‘brown’ sites, and cityowned vacant properties that could be transformed into vibrant places for arts and culture.”
A hub for arts and performance
A cultural civic center would serve as an arts and performance hub that allows artists and performers to interact with the public. The armory has plenty of space to headquarter the arts council and other area arts organizations. It most likely would require utilizing a request for proposal process that would allow the council to forge a partnership with an experienced developer because it would be a challenging project.
Gorman & Co. Illinois Market President Ron Clewer said now may be the time to make the dream a reality.
There are federal grants available through the federal Build Back Better Act for environmental cleanup that would be a necessary first step for redevelopment of the city-owned armory. Rockford City Council has agreed to put the dilapidated building up for sale.
An art deco building designed by architects Bradley and Bradley, the armory was constructed in 1936 by Sjostrom & Sons Inc.
Until the early 1980s, the armory served as the city’s auditorium, hosting
Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gene Autry and Nat King Cole among others who appeared there.
The Illinois National Guard left the building for a new location in Machesney Park in 1993.
It was utilized as a vocational school for a time, but sat empty for years before it was included on the the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and donated to the city of Rockford in 2003.
‘Needs a ton of work’
Environmental remediation is an expensive stumbling block for redevelopment of the armory, but the involvement of the arts council and use as a cultural center could attract state and federal investment that makes the project financially viable, Urban Equity Properties Founding Principal Justin Fern said.
Urban Equity Properties has redeveloped The Burnham Lofts, 202 W. State St. The Residences at Talcott, 321 W. State St., and is nearing completion of the $30 million Water Power Lofts, 700 S. Main St.
“The building needs a ton of work,” Fern said. “It is a full, full restoration. It's an expensive project . ... But talk about a project that's worthwhile. It's a fantastic building with high ceilings, great open space, a ton of history, positioned right next to the museum campus and it's on the river.”
When Clewer last evaluated the armory in 2020 for a potential redevelopment project, it didn't go anywhere after he found that black mold, asbestos and lead paint removal would cost an estimated $2 million.
But if the arts council were attached to the project to a cultural civic center, it could attract federal grants for environmental mitigation that do not require matching funds, Clewer said.
Like The Lafayette Hotel at 411 Mulberry St., which Gorman is redeveloping as a mix of 54 market rate and affordable apartments, the armory is located in an arts overlay district, a zoning designation that more easily allows for a mix of artist studio, residential and commercial uses in the same place.
Such districts, Clewer said, are known for sparking redevelopment in surrounding areas.
“Regular people want to live where artists live because they're cool,” Clewer said. “Gorman has done a number of these live-work artist lofts in Milwaukee. We have one over in Moline. We have one up in La Crosse ... I think we've done about a dozen of these, and they work every time.”