Gardner Museum Public Hearing Set for Thursday, June 7

[share] The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County will hold a public hearing on Thursday, June 7th at 6.00 pm in the Gardner Museum Building at 332 Maine Street, Quincy, Illinois. The purpose of this hearing is to seek public willingness to support the mission of the Gardner Museum.  Citizens are invited to attend, tour the building and grounds and offer ideas for funding the Museum.

Built in 1888 to serve as the Quincy Public Library, the architecturally significant structure on the southwest corner of Fourth and Maine has served in recent years as the Gardner Museum of Architecture and Design.

Great River Economic Development Foundation President Jim Mentesti and Historic Quincy Business District Executive Director Travis Brown are heading a Blue Ribbon committee to gauge public support of the museum. The museum closed because of a lack of financial support in March and was taken over by the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.

The Society would like to continue the mission of the Gardner Museum, if public support makes this financially feasible. The Society hopes a creative partnership can be found to provide the financial support and reuse of the building for public or nonprofit use(s).

“The Gardner Museum building is an extremely important and architecturally significant structure in downtown Quincy. We hope to see a lot of engaged citizens at Thursday’s public hearing,” says Travis Brown, HQBD Executive Director.

If you are unable to attend the hearing, written or emailed comments can be submitted to:

Jim Mentesti
Great River Economic Development Foundation
300 Civic Center Plaza, Suite 256
Quincy, IL 62301
217-223-4313
gredf@gredf.org

[share] After nearly three years of discussion and negotiation, the Illinois General Assembly unanimously passed Enterprise Zone extension legislation on May 31st. The bill awaits Governor Quinn’s signature.

According to an email from Craig Coil, president of the Illinois Enterprise Zone Association, “Senate Bill 3616 will provide stable and predictable job creation and retention incentives for the long term, more transparency and performance reporting and revised qualification criteria which may give communities not currently designated as Enterprise Zones the chance to be considered for designation. It also gives communities with existing zones the opportunity to renew for up to 25 years.”

The Quincy & Adams County Illinois Enterprise Zone was established in 1984 under state legislation. The Enterprise Zone is considered one of the most effective economic development tools available. Enterprise Zone incentives help grow our economy by encouraging job creation, retention and investments in our communities.

Enterprise Zone incentives have included:

• Property tax abatement
• Building materials sales tax exemption
• Reduced permit fees
• Jobs tax credit
• Investment tax credit
• Income tax reductions
• Machinery and equipment state sales tax exemption
• Utility tax exemption

Last year the program is credited with creating 8,980 jobs and nearly $2.5 billion in investments throughout the state. In the Quincy/Adams County Zone alone, (which includes portions of Brown County) 61 projects resulted in over $41 million in investments and 423 jobs being created or retained. This does not include the short term construction and other jobs further benefiting local businesses and the economy.

Visit our Incentives Page for details about current incentives available under the Quincy/Adams County Enterprise Zone or contact Cathy Schluckebier (217.228.4515 or cschluckebier@ci.quincy.il.us) with the City of Quincy Department of Planning and Development for more information.