Quincy River Edge Redevelopment Zone approved; historic tax credits available for riverfront properties

QUINCY — Quincy city officials learned Monday that the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has approved the Quincy River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ), which gives historic tax credits for qualifying riverfront properties that need to be restored.

The program incentivizes local developers with various tax credits, tax exemptions and tax abatements, such as new construction job credits and building materials sales tax exemptions, to “revive and redevelop environmentally challenged properties adjacent to rivers in Illinois.” 

Aldermen approved an ordinance to create and establish RERZ boundaries in November 2024. The proposed zone would be roughly from Harrison to Locust and from the riverfront to roughly Ninth Street. No part of the zone can be more than 4,500 feet from the river.

Chuck Bevelheimer, former director of planning for Quincy, summarized the benefits of becoming a RERZ member in an October 2024 memo to the Finance Committee:

• encourages the preservation of historic buildings through reuse and renovation;
• increases the value of rehabilitated properties;
• returns underutilized structures to the tax rolls;
• revitalizes downtowns and neighborhoods; and
• increases the amount of available housing within the community.

The program was initially limited to Aurora, East St. Louis, Elgin, Peoria and Rockford, but it was expanded to include Moline, East Moline, Ottawa, LaSalle, Peru, Rock Island, Kankakee and Quincy. 

“This is great news for the community and for a lot of our local developers who want to buy some of these historic homes and redevelop them and save them,” Mayor Linda Moore said during Monday’s City Council meeting. “Probably the two people who worked the hardest on this and put in the most time and effort were Jason Parrott (the city’s current director of planning) and Chuck Bevelheimer.”

Parrott said the River Edge program was trying to benefit communities that took an economic hit, especially with industry along a riverfront. 

“A couple of years ago, other communities said, ‘Well, we’re on a river and we’re dealing with economic hits. Let’s try to get us in there,’” Parrott said.

Of all the cities designated as a possible program. participant in the last two years, Quincy is the only one thus far to submit an application for the zone.

“The rest have the designation, but not the zone,” Parrott said.

Parrott said someone who owns an income-producing building in the River Edge zone can qualify for historic tax credits at a level much higher than the state tax credits program. 

“The state has $25 million available, and it’s competitive. Those grants are gone almost immediately,” he said. “River Edge has no cap to the amount that can be distributed.”

In other news, aldermen:

• Heard a proclamation from Moore declaring May 11-17 as National Police Week.
• Gave permission to Adams County Ambulance to land the air medical helicopter at the education center, 3001 Lindell, for medical training landing beginning May 13 and continuing on various dates throughout 2025.
• Gave permission to First Baptist Church to conduct a raffle and have the bond requirement waived from June 14 through Aug. 8.
• Approved appointments of Alderman Kelly Mays (R-3) to the City of Quincy and Adams County Joint Emergency Telephone System Board; Justina Darnell, Andrew Maas, Alexander Brown to the Sister City Commission; and Judith Abbott as assistant corporation counsel, effective June 1. Abbott, an assistant state’s attorney in Adams County from 1994-2008, is in her 11^th year as an assistant professor of criminal justice at Quincy University.
• Heard Moore say the “highlight” of last weekend was attending the “City of Refuge” Symphony on Saturday in the Morrison Theater at Quincy Junior High School. The musical performance, led by the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, featured a 150-voice All Faiths choir and Nauvoo Performing Missionaries. “I couldn’t believe the talent we have in this community,” Moore said. “The symphony was written by a Quincyan, Nathan Seaman, and it’s pretty amazing that we have that kind of talent in town.”