Urban Equity Properties buys historic Chick House hotel building in downtown Rockford

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Urban Equity Properties has purchased a portion of the historic Chick House hotel with plans to redevelop the entire building for new lofts and businesses.

The 168-year-old building sits at the corner of South Main Street and Elm Street across from the BMO Center, but much of the building has been empty for decades as the city has tried to entice redevelopment on the portion it owns.

“That corner can’t lie dead like it has been for decades. We have too much going on on all these other blocks in downtown Rockford,” said Justin Fern, founding principal of Urban Equity Properties. “We can’t have our main entry to the BMO looking at this building any further — and our buildings and our tenants looking at it, too — and everyone else in the community.”

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The city has owned the south side of the building since 2004. Its goal has been to find a developer to take over the property and renovate it for new use.

UEP Chick House LLC purchased the north end of building from Rockford Office Supply House for $250,000, according to a Dec. 26 real estate transaction at the Winnebago County Clerk & Recorder’s Office.

It plans to forge a redevelopment deal with the city to buy its side of the building as well.

Rockford Office Supply House will lease back space until eventually moving out to make way for construction, Fern said.

The final details of the number of apartment units and design will be rolled out at a later time, Fern said. The redevelopment is expected cost roughly $12 million.

“They’ll be higher-end luxury apartments and ground-floor retail spaces,” Fern said. “We have some interest of not one but two different businesses for the ground floor already. One is just going to blow people’s minds, and that deal is working right now. …

“Hopefully we can start construction with some signed ground-floor leases as well.”

A pending deal

The project will be paid for with a mix of private capital, historic tax credits and potential city financial incentives if those are approved by aldermen.

A deal with the city that would lay out financial incentives to help fund the rebuild is in the works. There’s no set timeline for when that proposal would be introduced to City Council members for consideration.

Those incentives are considered key to making a difficult rehabilitation project financially feasible for a developer to take on.

“The list of what makes this difficult is fairly endless. That’s why it’s really one of the last big buildings downtown that’s been sitting vacant, especially in such a key area,” Mayor Tom McNamara said. “When you look back at the work Urban Equity has done, they’ve taken on really difficult projects and they’ve proven that they can handle them and get them done.”

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In October, City Council members decided to set aside $550,000 from a budget surplus toward making improvements on the building.

That work was primarily focused on repairs to the crumbling brick masonry, but it could have also included paint removal, repainting, roof replacement and storefront improvements.

The money will now likely be rolled into a redevelopment deal, McNamara said.

‘An absolute ton of history’

The Chick House hotel was originally called the Griggs House when it was built in 1857.

It’s one of three remaining pre-Civil War commercial buildings in downtown, according to the city. The others are the Metropolitan Hall Lofts, built in 1856 at 404 W. State St., and Block 3 lofts at 330 E. State St. Urban Equity Properties also owns those buildings.

“The Chick Hotel is one of the earliest commercial structures still standing in Rockford,” Fern said. “There’s an absolute ton of history with the building and it wouldn’t be a great thing to see the building torn down, because it’s kind of getting to that point if we don’t do something.”

Former railroad engineer Thomas Chick bought the property in 1888 and changed the name to Chick House. Urban Equity plans to rebrand while keeping Chick’s legacy in the name.

The Chick House operated until 1928. It reopened a year later as the Elms hotel and ran until 1951, according to newspaper archives.

Timeline

It’s not decided when a proposal may be brought to City Council. Fern said he hopes it can move ahead within a month.

Then, the goal is to finalize the capital stick by May and start construction in June.

“We move fast. That’s how we’ve been successful is because we like to go as fast as we can to get to the next projects. There’s always more to do,” Fern said.

Construction is expected to take roughly two years to complete.

McNamara said redeveloping that corner is critical for the health of downtown. He said it’s another sign of momentum for the city’s downtown, particularly in putting city-owned buildings into the hands of private developers.

“You look at some of the major buildings that the city of Rockford owns downtown — if it’s the Watch Factory, the Trekk building or this — two of them are under development agreements and the third one we’re in very significant discussions with,” McNamara said.

McNamara said the city had worked for years on finding a developer for the property, but a sticking point had long been a developer’s ability to secure the privately owned portion of the building. Urban Equities’ purchase clears the way for the project to move ahead after years of vacancy.

“We can’t just open for with one new project for ’25, we’re going to have a few others,” Fern said. “This is the first one we want to talk about for the new year, and we’re pumped. This is a big thing for Rockford.”

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