Jeffers targets Oct. 2027 Kankakee opening

Shaw Local

A Milwaukee-based development group is targeting an end of October 2027 opening for its downtown Kankakee apartment project.

At the recent Kankakee City Council meeting, an ordinance authorizing the second amendment to the Tax Increment Financing agreement between the city and J. Jeffers & Co. and two other associated entities, JD Financing and East Station Street LLC, was unanimously approved.

Construction on both project phases will happen simultaneously.

Josh Jeffers said after the meeting that there have been some obvious delays in the project announced in 2019.

He emphasized that their belief in this project has never wavered.

“We’re pumped. We feel real good,” he said.

The apartment project proposed by J. Jeffers & Co. as seen from the 300 block of South Dearborn at the intersection of East Station Street in downtown Kankakee. — A rendering of the apartment project proposed by J. Jeffers & Co. as seen from the 300 block of South Dearborn at the intersection of East Station Street in downtown Kankakee. (Provided by J. Jeffers & Co.)

Kankakee has previously provided a $1 million incentive.

A recent delay in the project centered around the state of Illinois expanding a redevelopment zone, the River Edge Redevelopment Zone, to include this portion of Kankakee.

The legislation was completed in early fall of last year. It had been expected to be finalized months earlier.

Mayor Chris Curtis said many projects take time to come together. This project ran into some obstacles regarding funding.

The apartment development was initially slated to be 92 units, but in early 2025 – about six years after it was announced under the Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong administration – the project was cut in half.

J. Jeffers & Co. apartment project blueprint (J. Jeffers & Co.)

J. Jeffers & Co. apartment project aerial view (Tyler Parbs)

According to the project timeline, all building permits for the project’s first phase are to be acquired by Sept. 1, 2026. From that late-summer point, construction should be underway.

Jeffers is anticipating a 10-month build for the three-story, 47-unit, market-rate apartment building at the southwest corner of South Dearborn Avenue and East Station Street.

The apartment building, to comprise 42 1-bedroom and 5 two-bedroom units, is projected to be a $20 million build.

The project also includes rehabbing the 30,000-square-foot, two-story former Midlands State Bank property at the corner of East Station and South Schuyler Avenue.