Developers overseeing plans for Bloomington’s former eastside Kmart location hosted a public workshop Tuesday to receive feedback from residents.
The daylong workshop included interactive work sessions, presentations and open discussions about the plans for the site.
West Lafayette based Trinitas Ventures plans to turn the site into a mixed-use development, which will include housing, retail, office space and restaurants. Developers also plan to build a new hotel.
Aaron Bartels is the Senior Vice President of Mixed-Use Development at Trinitas Ventures. He says the public feedback has been overwhelming and the group wants to use public comments to influence decisions on architecture, landscaping, and surrounding amenities.
“We’ve heard from the community that there’s passion certainly around local retailers like Bloomingfoods and others,” Bartels says. “There’s demand for a variety of uses and more importantly something that looks toward the future.”
He says after a more formal approval process with the county and city, they hope to begin construction on the site within 12 to 18 months.
Alana Benson is a IU student who commutes to Bloomington from Unionville. She says additional developments on the city’s eastside would create access to amenities that both residents and commuters need.
“Having easy access to places, considering I still have a 20 minute drive on top of anywhere else I have to go, would be great,” Benson says.
Public workshops will continue through Thursday and project designers intend to have a general framework of the concept plan by the end of the week.