Miracle Mile group on the offensive

ROCKFORD - A new road south of East State Street that could improve access to businesses along Rockford’s “Miracle Mile” was just one of many ideas tossed around during a brainstorming session Wednesday among business owners.

About 50 business owners along East State Street from Fairview Boulevard to just east of Alpine Road met for four hours at the Prairie Area Library System on Morsay Drive to discuss the challenges they face and the hopes they have for the area’s future.

The stretch of road is mostly flanked by retail outlets — restaurants, shops, service providers, a bowling alley and small hotels. The neighborhoods to the north and south are well populated. The area represents what used to be the edge of the city a few decades ago.

In recent years, the businesses have struggled to compete with East State Street east of Alpine Road, which has become Rockford’s new retail hotbed.

Traffic hindering business

On Wednesday, business owners aired concerns that while they are located on one of the busiest streets in Rockford, traffic congestion and limited access points prevent people from stopping and shopping.

“If you’re heading east, you’re OK, but if you’re heading west, it’s a nightmare,” said Joe Namoff of Crazy Joe’s Best Deal Furniture and Mattress. Namoff’s business is located on the south side of East State Street just west of Alpine, a point where cars regularly line up 20 to 40 deep waiting to pass through the intersection.

Creating new roads through the mostly vacant Magna grocery site south of East State Street to Alpine Road — like a southern version of Morsay Drive — could address traffic backup concerns, and the roads could act as dams and levees to alleviate flooding hazards, officials said.

Traffic flow, access, connective design and storm-water management are becoming key points in the discussion as the city prepares the area for an overhaul.

Owners committed to change

In the past two years, a special taxing district and a grass-roots business group were established to breathe new life into the area. And in April, CVS announced it would close its pharmacy in the old Magna site and build a stand-alone store down the street, clearing the way for redevelopment.

All are signs of the business owners’ commitment, as well as the city’s, said Ald. Frank Beach, R-10, who has represented the Miracle Mile retail strip for 28 years.

“I think everybody sees that we’re serious about this,” Beach said. “(The Magna site) is a blight on the neighborhood. If it’s not corrected soon, it’s going to affect all around it.”

Improvements to the Magna site will do the same thing, said architect Gary Anderson, who is working with the city on the redevelopment plan.

“In looking at what to do with that Magna site and how we wanted to reinvent that space,” Anderson said, “it created a lot more questions about the surrounding area. How will it affect other businesses and the area, how the flooding concerns could be addressed. This is what the rapid expansion of development out east has left in its wake. What we hope to do is come up with a comprehensive neighborhood plan.”

Staff writer Corina Curry can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 815-987-1395.