Executive Summary
The City of Peoria, Illinois commissioned Tracy Cross & Associates, Inc. to provide a market analysis regarding the potential for residential development in the city’s downtown with particular interest in the feasibility of redevelopment within its Warehouse District. Overall, our analysis demonstrates the downtown of Peoria has the capacity to absorb 194 residential units annually among higher density attached housing forms. In fact the Downtown/Warehouse District has the capacity to absorb 102 loft-style apartments converted from existing structures, 66 new construction rental apartments, 16 new garden condominiums, and 10 new construction townhomes/rowhomes.
Our conclusions of aggregate potentials assume a strategic approach to the introduction of new housing is taken with respect to both geography and the order in which the various housing forms are brought to market. This is to say, maximum absorption will most likely be achieved only with a concerted effort to introduce new housing in a way that extends the sphere of residential desirability and does so in an order that does not concurrently pit competitive housing forms against each other.
Much like other urban centers undergoing gentrification and redevelopment, the potential for Peoria’s downtown is very strong. The Warehouse District has already demonstrated its strength as a place for new housing through several successful residential programs recently introduced, while the City of Peoria has, furthermore, supported further redevelopment through the adoption of its innovative Form-Based Zoning Code and approval of its generous incentives packages. What is needed to continue Peoria’s downtown and Warehouse District revival is the application of a sensible and strategic plan of development that builds on existing strengths and maximizes the potential for future sites.