Economic development seen as key to legacy of former Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin
For the last eight years, Richard Irvin got the chance to live out his longtime dream: being the mayor of his hometown, Aurora.
It was hope that drove Irvin, who grew up in low-income housing, was raised by a single mother and was the first in his family to graduate from both high school and college, to make a name for himself, he recently said in an interview with The Beacon-News.
And it was that same hope that he later turned towards the city, Irvin said, to make his hometown into something, too.
'I'll be known for a lot of things, but I think what I did best, and what I was able to convey to our residents, was hope,' he said.
Irvin became the 59th mayor of Aurora, and the first African American to ever hold the title, after he was first elected in 2017. Before that, he served on the Aurora City Council for 10 years as an alderman at-large, and he was also the first African American man to be elected to that position.
'This has been an absolutely fun ride,' Irvin told a group of gathered elected officials, city staff and others from the community who packed the lobby of the Copley Theatre in downtown Aurora on May 6 to help say goodbye to him and those from the mayor's office who were also leaving alongside him.
His time as mayor ended when the city's new mayor, John Laesch, was inaugurated on Tuesday. Laesch defeated Irvin in the April 1 consolidated election, an ostensibly nonpartisan race that saw significant spending from the state Democratic party and which many considered to be divisive.
The win over a sitting mayor was a rarity for Aurora. The last time an incumbent elected mayor conceded defeat in an election was in 1997, but even then David Pierce withdrew ahead of that year's consolidated election after what he saw as a lackluster showing in the primary to opponent David Stover.
Irvin's two four-year terms as mayor of Aurora were marked by significant economic development efforts throughout the city but also by tragedies such as the Henry Pratt mass shooting and the COVID-19 pandemic as well as significant pushback and criticism for many of those same economic development projects others view as successes.
At one of his last city meetings as mayor, the May 6 meeting of the Aurora City Council's Committee of the Whole, Irvin said his outgoing administration 'made a long-lasting impact and fundamentally changed the face of this city as we know it.'
Many locally involved in Aurora's civic sphere have recently told The Beacon-News similar things when asked to think about Irvin's legacy as mayor.
Some said Irvin helped to turn around the city's once-negative reputation, while others talked about his ability to build a good team, but all who were asked about his legacy mentioned economic development, particularly in downtown, as something he will be remembered for.
Irvin has often said, particularly during his recently unsuccessful reelection campaign, that he has done more economic development than six or more decades of past mayors put together.
And according to Curtis Wilson, who last year was honored as Aurora's first-ever Volunteer of the Year for his efforts across every part of the city, Irvin has earned the right to brag about that. A large part of Irvin's legacy, Wilson said, will be related to economic development and prosperity of the city.
A large part of Irvin's economic development efforts have been centered around Aurora's downtown.
Chuck Nelson, a lifelong Aurora resident who was formerly Irvin's deputy mayor but who also was selected to be part of Laesch's transition team, said what Irvin did to downtown has been 'transformational.'
'There's certainly more interest and activity in the downtown than I've ever seen,' Nelson said.
Using financial incentives backed by the Irvin administration and approved by the City Council, a number of downtown historic buildings were or are in the process of being redeveloped to house apartments and commercial space.
A notable example of a downtown redevelopment project is the over 130-year-old Hobbs Building, its onion dome a longtime piece of the Aurora skyline, which city officials have said was once near-collapse but now holds three new restaurants — Leilani Asian Fusion, Giardino Trattoria & Pizzeria and Touche French Creole — along with 33 apartments.
Aurora's downtown is also seeing new development with the under-construction East Bank Apartments along North Broadway. Like many of the downtown redevelopment projects under Irvin's administration, this project by DAC Developments was given financial incentives from the city, which in this case total around $12.6 million.
Alongside many of the redevelopment projects, a large number of restaurants, coffee shops and similar establishments opened up in downtown Aurora during Irvin's time as mayor. In addition to those in the Hobbs Building, other examples include Arthouse, Society 57 and Altiro Latin Fusion, among many others.
'If you walk around downtown, a dead and desolate place before 2017 when I took office, and you see life teeming and excitement spreading with people walking their dogs, jogging and simply taking a stroll in our downtown, that transformation happened under the Irvin administration,' Irvin said during his speech at the May 6 Committee of the Whole meeting.
Mike Saville — Aurora's 6th Ward alderman who has been on the City Council for nearly 40 years, perhaps the longest consecutive term ever served, and who was on Laesch's transition team — said the downtown's redevelopment was 'an important milestone for our community.'
'It was the last piece of the puzzle that we needed to put together that we've been planning on and allocated city resources for many, many years,' he said.
Along with Irvin's focus on downtown economic development was his support of arts and entertainment, which many have said help to support those economic development efforts.
Aurora is now known as a theater district both locally and regionally, meaning people are coming and attending shows here, Saville said, which is good for the community in the long run.
Tim Rater, the Paramount Theatre's president and CEO who recently was recognized as the 2024 Chicagoan of the Year in Theater by the Chicago Tribune, said Irvin's administration was fully behind his organization even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the theater hard.
And, despite the pandemic's setbacks, the Irvin administration supported the Paramount not just in getting back to what it previously did but in being bigger than ever before, Rater said.
'Much of what we've done over these past eight years wouldn't have been possible, especially since COVID, without their support,' he said. 'There would be no BOLD Series, don't know that we would have the (Paramount School of the Arts) reopened and there certainly would be no Stolp Island Theatre.'
More broadly, Rater categorized Irvin as 'a builder.' There are certain types of leaders who focus on developing and moving things forward, he said, and Irvin's mind always seemed to be on the next project.
And those projects extended far beyond Aurora's downtown.
One notable example is the new $360 million Hollywood Casino resort currently being built along Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road, across the street from Chicago Premium Outlets mall and near the Interstate 88 interchange. That new casino is set to replace the existing Hollywood Casino in downtown Aurora.
Irvin has previously said he and his administration pushed hard for Hollywood Casino's parent company, Penn Entertainment, to build a new casino in Aurora and even helped to get state laws changed so it could be relocated.
The project was also supported with a $50 million up-front financial incentive from the city, which is set to be paid back through taxes generated by the project through a tax increment financing district, also called a TIF, or by Penn Entertainment directly if the taxes produced are not enough.
Local officials were worried that Penn Entertainment might pull out of Illinois altogether as its casinos in both downtown Aurora and Joliet brought in less and less money, according to past reporting. The Aurora casino contributed about $15 million a year in gaming taxes to the city at its highest point, but that has fallen to just below $6 million in recent years.
Many who spoke to The Beacon-News said the city's new casino, when it opens in 2026, will have a significant impact on the city's finances. The city's gaming tax in part goes to support initiatives by Aurora aldermen to improve quality of life within their wards.
Another major project within Aurora under Irvin's time as mayor, which also received significant financial support from the city, was the redevelopment of the old Copley Hospital on Aurora's near East Side.
Now called Bloomhaven, the award-winning project now holds on its campus a new VNA Health Primary Care Center, an independent living community for adults with intellectual, cognitive and developmental disabilities called Weston Bridges, a senior living community called Bardwell Residences, Cafe 1888, the East Aurora School District 131 headquarters and a neighborhood park.
Aurora's Fox Valley Mall is also currently being redeveloped to include residential buildings, open space and more, an initiative that started under Irvin's administration.
Plus, as Irvin mentioned in his speech at the May 6 Committee of the Whole meeting, the city has approved the construction of many neighborhoods and other residential developments during his time as mayor, including a large new Del Webb senior living community on the far southeast side of the city.
All that his administration was able to accomplish was done while also dealing with significant challenges, such as a polar vortex, the Henry Pratt mass shooting, the COVID-19 pandemic and more, Irvin said during the speech.
Alex Alexandrou, who recently retired after serving under four different mayors and was most recently Irvin's chief management officer, said the COVID-19 pandemic in particular disrupted the administration's plans.
The city worked hard to keep what he sees as the city's 'four pillars' — the Paramount, the Hollywood Casino, the Chicago Premium Outlets mall and Fox Valley Mall — from shutting down permanently, according to Alexandrou. Plus, he said the city also worked to help small businesses and organizations like Hesed House homeless shelter during that time.
Saville said that another of Irvin's legacies will be the mass vaccination clinics that helped to keep residents safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many, including Irvin, said that none of these things were done alone. According to Nelson, Irvin was able to surround himself with talented and dedicated people, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when he pulled together not only city leaders but also regional leaders, state elected officials and health care professionals.
Plus, Alexandrou said Irvin's aggressive agenda pushed staff to be creative and think outside the box.
'We worked hard to get rid of that negative perception that plagued Aurora and replaced it with prosperity, with an energy and excitement that is palpable,' Irvin said in his speech at the May 6 Committee of the Whole meeting. 'We brought pride back to Aurora.'
Irvin told The Beacon-News that he did nearly all of what he set out to do, and the rest he was planning to do in his next term if he was re-elected. So now, the legacy he is leaving behind is a new Aurora and the hope of a better city that now exists, he said.
According to Nelson, people might just look back on Irvin's time as mayor and say that he was on the way to building a financially sustainable community. He mentioned the falling tax rate, meaning that residents are now paying a smaller percentage of their home's assessed value.
Plus, Saville said that the new casino will add an economic base to Aurora that it has been striving for.
And while economic development may be one of the defining features of Irvin's time in office, it has also been the source of significant pushback from many in the community. That backlash came to a head in the most recent election, where he was beaten by Laesch, who has been one of his fiercest critics.
While Laesch acknowledged Irvin's significant investments particularly in downtown during his inauguration speech, he said those investments have left the city in serious debt.
Alexandrou, in an interview with The Beacon-News about Irvin's legacy, said debt is a hard topic but that the city took it on for the right reasons and are seeing the results.
Many of the economic development-related debts the city has taken on, similar to the one set up for the casino, are set to be paid back to the city through taxes generated by the incentivized developments that were projected to cover the full cost of debt payments.
Irvin has also been criticized for economic development incentives directly, not just because of the debt they put the city in, particularly when those incentives went to people or organizations that Irvin had ties to.
But he told The Beacon-News that, while he has been categorized by some as someone who sold Aurora out, he really had to convince developers to buy-in to the city.
'The problem is, people forgot what we were in 2017 when I took office,' Irvin said. 'They forgot what we were, and people assumed we were this successful city the whole time.'
In the most recent election, Irvin was the subject of an ad campaign primarily in the form of mailers paid for by the state Democratic Party tying him to President Donald Trump, whom a majority of the city's voters rejected in November.
And while Irvin did unsuccessfully run for governor as a Republican in 2022, a campaign in which he repeatedly slammed Gov. JB Pritzker, his local track record tells a more complicated story, particularly because of Irvin's support for efforts around diversity and inclusion.
When asked if he regrets his decision to run for governor, Irvin said he didn't. Although he wishes he had done lots of things differently in life, he always has taken chances.
'How would I ever know who I was and what I could achieve in life unless I tried?' Irvin said.
At that May 6 Committee of the Whole meeting, one of the last he attended as mayor, Irvin received a number of recognitions from local groups such as the Aurora Puerto Rican Cultural Council, which presented Irvin with its inaugural Saizon and Corazon Award, and the Aurora African American Heritage Advisory Board, which renamed its annual community recognition the Richard C. Irvin Nia Award.
Although Irvin's name likely won't be seen around Aurora City Hall anymore, there are still places to find it.
Touche French Creole, which recently opened in the Hobbs Building, has renamed its popular Shrimp and Grits dish to 'The Irvin Grit' in tribute to his leadership style.
And, the Aurora Housing Authority announced at the May 6 meeting that it will be renaming the community center at the Indian Trail Housing Complex, which is in the same building Irvin grew up in, as the Richard C. Irvin Community Center.
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