Chicago Construction News staff writer
Peoria’s downtown business incubator is one step closer to construction, with completion of the public construction bid process and approval from both the state and federal granting agencies.
Peoria-based PointCore Construction won the construction bidding process for Distillery Labs’ rehab project in the old Illinois Central College building at 201 Southwest Adams St. and will serve as the construction manager, according to a news release from Distillery Labs.
Peoria’s Farnsworth Group and Chicago’s Gensler Architecture will serve as the project engineers and architects, according to the release.
The 40,000 plus square foot building, previously the Illinois Central College, will be renovated to house a world-class startup and technology incubation center complete with public education and training facilities, offices and coworking areas, and maker spaces including a commercial test kitchen, cut-and-sew, and prototyping equipment.
The construction team has begun work on equipment procurement, anticipating continued supply chain issues across the broader construction industry. Full construction is anticipated to commence late summer 2023 with a grand opening of Distillery Labs in mid-2024.
“We’re all breathing a sigh of relief that we’ve finally reached the construction phase,” said Chris Setti, interim executive director at Distillery Labs. “Inflation headwinds, labor shortages, and general supply chain issues in construction resulted in unfortunate delays over the last two years, but the team has worked incredibly hard to create a project the entire Greater Peoria region can be proud of and will support our local entrepreneurs and innovators for decades to come.”
“We’re all breathing a sigh of relief that we’ve finally reached the construction phase,” said Chris Setti, interim executive director and member of the board of directors for Distillery Labs, in its news release. “Inflation headwinds, labor shortages, and general supply chain issues in construction resulted in unfortunate delays over the last two years, but the team has worked incredibly hard to create a project the entire Greater Peoria region can be proud of and will support our local entrepreneurs and innovators for decades to come.”
