Former Off-Track Betting Building Gets Facelift

Rockford- Crews work to rehab the former OTB building. Sitting across the street from Rockford College it's been vacant since 2009 not helping attract developers.

10^TH Ward Alderman Franklin Beach says "you have a building right immediately to the east of it that they're trying to get bought so it can be developed. There's quite a few empty buildings on that stretch, but one at a time if they can get them open and get them operational, back on the tax rolls that would be an important thing for the community."

The EZPAWN shop was slated to open in a different Rockford location. Now it will sit in a new TIF district along State Street.

Developer First Rockford plans on reconstructing the property to include several businesses not just one.

Beach explains "we need to take property by property and upgrade it so that it is attractive as people come into the city of Rockford."

It's why city council approved a special-use permit to redevelop the site. They can't completely eliminate pawn shops, but they can control where they're opened.

"The clustering of these units together where you would get one part of town where they would be 4, 5, 6 right after another. Cash stores, tobacco stores, liquor stores that ordinance was put on the books to develop and deal with that going forward."

Rather than deserted, vacant buildings aldermen believe it's a positive step to spurring development along Rockford's busiest route.