The Daily Journal -
Saturday, February 13, 2010


Looking up in a down economy:  Why Jeff Bennett Maintains his long-term optimism.

"We withstood a heck of a year."  That's how Jeff Bennett, leader of Bennett Commercial, sums up the real estate and development situation in Kankakee County.  Bennett spoke recently at a meeting of the Kankakee Kiwanis Club.

Bennett passed out a chart of housing starts in Kankakee County.  From 1998 to 2001, housing starts in Kankakee County hovered in the range of 300 a year, steadily trending upward.

Then came the explosion.  Housing starts from 2003-2006 were in the high 500's or more each year, peaking at 666 in 2005.  In 2005 there were 236 starts in Bourbonnais alone and 113 in Manteno. 

The slowdown started in 2007, when starts reverted to the fairly normal range of 410 that year.  In 2008, the number fell to 158, or what was once half of "normal."

Through the first half of 2009, there were 40 starts.  Bennett told the gropu he expects the final number to be "close to 65."

In many cases, Bennett said, the upsurge was fueled not so much by new Kankakee County jobs as by a new generation of commuters.  The primary wage-earner would live in Kankakee County, while their spouse would seek what Bennett called secondary employment in Kankakee county.

But, as grim as those numbers seem, Bennett maintains his optimism about the area.  The Wal-mart complex on the south side of Kankakee is going well, he said, and downtown Kankakee has not looked this good in years, as it makes the transition to a banking and government center.

The Camelot Day School has taken over the old Kroger in Bourbonnais, while the Kroger and Jewel stores in Bourbonnais are both new.  In addition, Turk Furniture has taken over the old K's Merchandise spot on Illinois Route 50. 

"Where do we stand now at the end of a difficult 2009?"  he asked.

It is clear, he said, that whatever new investment is attracted in the future, it will not be the same as the investment of the past.  The future, he said, is likely to see more investment in machinese, and not the same pace of job creationas in the past. 

"But, I still believe that we have great hard-working people," he said.  The education provided by Kankakee Community College and Olivet Nazarene University reinforces human resources for the future.

Bennett believes that pricing in the housing market has finally leveled off.  The drop in new house volume, he said, has killed the impact fee movement, which would have billed and blamed newcomers for growth.  These days communities will take any growth.

I believe, Bennett said, that the community has withstood the tsunami. 

"I do believe in the bottom of my heart that Kankakee County is still a good place to be strategically," he said.

Written by Phil Angelo, Senior Editor, The Daily Journal