City eyes Zeller property Peoria would use state's facility for bioscience park

April 12, 2002

By ELAINE HOPKINS of the Journal Star

PEORIA - The city has its sights on the Zeller Mental Health Center complex, hoping the state will donate it for use as a bioscience research facility, Peoria's development director said Thursday.

"If Zeller is closed, there is hope we can get the state to donate it over to the city for a bioscience park," Economic Development Director David Dobson told members of the Kiwanis Club of South-West Peoria.

Asked how the plan could be accomplished, Dobson said: "(State Rep. David) Leitch could do it. It's something that is being looked at in my office."

But when contacted later, Leitch, R-Peoria, said: "I haven't begun to think about what will happen to the actual facility. It's probably a suggestion that will surface along with many others. I'm concentrating on trying to figure out the best solution for patients and their families."

Leitch also hopes to delay Zeller's closure so more planning can take place.

Zeller's 10 buildings comprise 250,000 square feet, with an estimated value of $8.2 million. Gov. George Ryan announced in February he plans to close Zeller this year as a way to cut the state budget.

The proposed research facility could be part of Peoria's biotechnology initiative. Unveiled last fall, the initiative aims to provide jobs and growth for central Illinois, while creating opportunities for new medical treatments and research.

The newly minted, not-for-profit PRB Foundation, which stands for Peoria Regional Biocollaborative, recently received a $1 million gift for "seed money."

Dobson also spoke Thursday on other development plans in the city, saying Peoria aims to develop white collar and blue collar jobs. One idea concerns "intellectual property," or technology, developed at Caterpillar Inc. that could be "sold off to small businesses that would start and stay in Peoria and expand."

Dobson said the city is working on planning so that developers fit into Peoria's plans instead of vice versa.

"We need to focus on keeping the development in the community without leapfrogging out. It could leave us with holes in the middle of town," he said.

Dobson predicted Bergner's at Sheridan Village will close when its lease expires. Asked why the city allowed a mall to be developed on its outskirts where another Bergner's will open, he responded that the mall met the legal requirements, and there was always a threat of its moving outside the city limits.

Several development projects are taking place, he said, including a medical facility south of the Civic Center. He declined to provide details, however.

Later, though, construction manager Pete Mangieri of Mangieri Companies Inc., said it is a 10,500-square foot, 32-station dialysis facility owned by Midwest Kidney Center. The facility is moving from Methodist Medical Center and adding eight new stations. It will cost more than $1 million and open Nov. 1.