Macomb City Council Committee of the Whole Hears from Master Developer for East Side Economic Development Project – "Macomb is Worth It"
“There’s great momentum here. There are people in Macomb and people outside of Macomb who want to invest money because they think that Macomb is worth it.” – Kelly Young, Vice President- Russell Group.
The City of Macomb is moving one step closer to its vision of a new economic development project, anchored by a sports facilities/event complex, on the city’s east side. Russell Group Construction & Development of Davenport, IA has been identified as the project’s master developer, which was the missing link for the City of Macomb’s Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bond application.
In order to apply for state funding the city has to have a master developer in place. The Committee of the Whole Monday night heard from Kelly Young of Russell, and also discussed a resolution approving a STAR Bond District, which will move forward for a vote at the Oct. 19 full council meeting.
According to its website, Russell is the “leading professional construction and real estate development company.” The firm has offices in Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Springfield, St. Louis and Kansas City, and has delivered “more than $7 billion in projects across 34 states.” Russell was introduced Monday as the prospective master developer for the economic development project anchored by a sports complex. Russell’s selection was discussed at the Community Development committees Oct. 2 and Oct. 9. The Macomb City Council is expected to vote on the final agreement with Russell at its Dec. 7 meeting. “I’ve been very impressed, from our initial interview with Russell to the follow-up, with the level of excitement that is shared with Russell about this project,” Inman said following Young’s presentation. “I do want to reiterate we are still not in a binding agreement, nor have we committed any dollars at this point. The agreement with Russell will likely be amended several times over the course of the next several months as we make progress in the process. This is still not an affirmation that this project is being voted on to continue. We have to have a master developer identified in order to move forward in the process and that is what we’ve done to this point.”
Young told The Community News Brief following Monday’s meeting that when the proposal first came across their desk, they didn’t think this was the right project for their company, but a trusted partner urged them to give it a look … then they met with Mayor Inman and MAEDCO CEO and President Kim Pierce.
“I’ll tell you it was meeting with the mayor and Kim. The level of commitment is there, and the leadership of this community is determined to make this happen.
You can see the work that MAEDCO has done in attracting businesses to this community and the sustainability of those businesses,” Young said. “The tenacity of this team and the visionary council really do show us that Macomb has something. And sports tourism is such a big industry. This
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is an economic stimulator and I’ve been so impressed not only with the Sports Facilities Company that the city is working with, but with Integra (IIR), the city’s fiduciary, as well as we know the benchmarking and data analytics are on point.”
As the master developer, Russell will take the plans to date and begin the legwork of planning the economic development project: retailers, restaurants, hotels and more in the district.
According to Inman, interviews had been conducted with potential developers in recent months, with Russell coming out on top.
The city is also working with Jacob & Klein Attorneys at Law Ltd. and The Economic Development Group Ltd. to coordinate the establishment of the economic development district. The firms are working together specializing as a single service provider for the creation and administration of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts and other innovative business incentives such as Business Development Districts.
The Bloomington firm has worked with Macomb in the development of all of its TIF districts.
STAR Bond District Resolution
Macomb aldermen will vote this coming Monday on a resolution that formally identifies the STAR Bond/ economic development district, which covers about 50 acres south of East Jackson Street, the main development area, and a little more than 51 acres north of Jackson. The northernmost section is planned as the underserved area, which state law requires to make
MACOMB IL | MARCH 23, 2026 up at least 51 percent of a STAR Bond district, the mayor noted.
Reaching for the STAR Bond
The City of Macomb’s filed its intent to establish a STAR Bond district and pursue the incentives through the state’s revamped STAR Bond program, which, if received, will make it possible for the city to move forward with the proposed sports complex. Communities planning to pursue the competitive state grant had to file their intent by June 1. The intent to pursue does not obligate the city, Inman explained.
The search for a master developer is one more box checked off on the list of necessary criteria for the STAR Bond application, which must be in place before the city can begin the nearly year-long application process beginning Jan. 1, 2027.
As shared in a previous update in The Community News Brief, DCEO’s biannual census tract changes on July 1 have put a small kink in the plan for approximately half of the 32 communities throughout Illinois that filed intents by the deadline the month prior. To be considered as a STAR Bond District, 51 percent of the district must be adjacent to an economically disadvantaged parcel. Macomb’s location on East Jackson Street met that criterion … until DCEO changed the city’s map, which affects one metric. Because of that change, less than .02 percent of the residents, a scant handful, in that district no longer qualify for SNAP benefits because of modifications at the federal level. The new change has a direct impact to the city’s intent application as it puts Macomb just ever-so-slightly under the 51 percent threshold, Inman shared.
However, Sen. Mike Halpin and Rep. Dan Swanson are working with other legislators on a policy change in the veto session, he said. It’s a matter of accepting the 2024 census, which was in force when we sent our intent to file by the June 1 deadline, and also accepting the new 2026 census. It’s an either-or, and would be appropriate since that deadline was one month prior to the DCEO census report.
“Sen. Halpin and Rep. Swanson have made inquiries up and down their chain, both in leadership and believe that they can advocate for us for those legislative changes. And that’s our goal because we absolutely have to have STAR Bond as part of our capital stack to make this project work,” Inman concluded. “We have a great master developer identified, now we just need to check other boxes to continue moving forward.”
Retail Decisions
Alderman Justin Schuch asked Young what the company’s approach is to get insight from the community about what they want to see in the district, and how they’re involved in the process. According to Young, Russell is willing to host listening sessions to learn from residents and seek their feedback. She also mentioned that they’d be working closely with Pierce as MAEDCO is “plugged into” what will work in this region. Inman stressed at Monday’s meeting after Young’s presentation that retail decisions will be driven by data.
“We’ve been working on this project for two years already, and I want to remind everybody that the ancillary development that we’re talking about with Russell, they’re very open to taking our suggestions,” Pierce pointed out. “We already know retailers that will work here. We’ve had public forums. We’ve had people telling us what they want. The MAEDCO Board also shared with us what they feel would be ‘a fit.’ We all have friends and family, telling us what they think and we understand that, but I’ll say straight up, there are things that we can attract. And, I don’t want anyone to think we will just settle for any retail. This project is about attracting people here, creating sales tax revenue, and building a stronger, more vibrant community.”
