A portion of the Barber-Colman building on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, at Rock and Loomis streets in Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Union trades workers have halted their demonstrations in front of the Barber-Colman complex construction site as 100% of the work is now being handled by organized labor.
Both union officials, developer J. Jeffers & Co. and Mayor Tom McNamara confirmed the use of union labor last week when we provided a progress report on the Colman Yards project one year after its groundbreaking. For much of the early stages of construction, union demonstrators had stationed an inflatable rat, mobile billboard and other signs along North Main Street in front of the site.
They now expect union workers to handle future phases of the project as it progresses.
“All three entities being the city, J. Jeffers and the building trades unions are all going to be happy going forward,” said Alan Golden, president of the Northwestern Illinois Building Trades Union. “I would expect an outstanding relationship between everybody as we move forward.”
The use of union work had been a key sticking point last year as City Council members debated whether to approve a deal with J. Jeffers to redevelop the 26-acre defunct manufacturing campus into a mix of loft residences and businesses.
Half of aldermen wanted the city to require the developer to reach a collective bargaining deal with organized labor called a project labor agreement before the project could move forward.
Developers said at the time that requiring such a deal could limit the pool of contractors that can bid on construction as they work within the federal Minority Business Enterprise, Women Business Enterprise and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs. Those programs are designed to provide more opportunities for socially and economically disadvantaged workers.
The city had estimated about 70% of the work would go toward union labor throughout the course of the project.
Proponents of requiring the labor deal had said it would ensure skilled workers will handle construction and it curtails potential work stoppages.
Construction work continues on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, on the future Colman Yards in south Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)City Council ultimately rejected requiring a deal with organized labor in a 7-7 vote, with Mayor Tom McNamara casting the tiebreaking vote.
Union representatives said early portions of the project including fencing setup, portions of demolition work and some operating engineers tasks were not handled by organized labor.
The bids contractors are making on the project now are being made with plans to use 100% union labor, Golden said.
“This is huge for our area. This is huge for the city of Rockford,” he said. “We wanted to be part of it all along. Unfortunately, we had to go the route we did. I’m looking forward to building an absolute beautiful facility down there with the union trades.”
It’s unclear how many total jobs will be supported going forward, Golden said. That will become more clear as bids are awarded in the coming weeks and months, he said.
In total, the project has been estimated to create roughly 400 full-time equivalent construction jobs. All jobs, whether union or not, are mandated to pay Illinois’ prevailing union wage.
“A job of that magnitude, we want the money to stay right here,” Golden said. “We want to always maintain what we can be spent right here in Rockford.”
A portion of the Barber-Colman building on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, at Rock and Loomis streets in Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)Golden said the project, in conjunction with work on the Meta data center in DeKalb and other construction, is keeping union workers active.
“We’re anticipating unbelievable man hours in the next 5-10 years going forward,” Golden said. “Everyone in the building trades right now is over the moon, and they’re really happy about being able to get on this project.”
The first phase of the project is on track to welcome its first residents by summer 2025 as apartments are opened in stages. Preleasing could start as soon as May.
The first residences to open will be 34 loft apartments in historic structures referred to as buildings No. 4 and No. 9. Then, developers will open up more units floor by floor in the largest building at the corner of Rock and Loomis streets. That structure will have 181 apartments for a total of 215 during the first phase.
The first phase also includes a new 336-space parking garage.
The studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments will all be available for rent at market rates. That could range from roughly $1,000 for a studio apartment and up, depending on market conditions when leasing begins.
The total project, which would be built over the course of about a decade, could create more than 900 living units and roughly 130,000 square feet of commercial space at an estimated cost of $430 million.
“We’ve continued to do exactly what we always said we were going to do,” said Brian Loftin, chief development officer for J. Jeffers & Co. “We’ve continued to do that under the guise of what we negotiated with the city on for over three years before we got to that point, and we are very happy and very excited to have the workforce there.”
A portion of the Barber-Colman complex where work has not yet started on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in south Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas