By Taylor Fleming
PEORIA, Ill. (25 News) – A portion of Detweiller Marina near Caroline Street in Peoria may be sold to O’Brien Steel.
The Detweiller Trust owns land that Thomas H. Detweiller wanted to be available for the people of Peoria for recreation and enjoyment. But the trust has fallen into hard times, and the group has been working to sell a portion of the land since April 2025. The Illinois Attorney General even approved their plans in November.
Around 50 people attended a meeting at First United Methodist Church on Monday to discuss their concerns about the sale. The meeting was hosted by the North Valley Neighborhood Associations & Friends of Riverfront Park.
Several people brought up concerns about losing access to the river near their homes, loss of green spaces, and what they feel is a lack of transparency around the whole process.
“We are asking and calling for accountability, clarity, and community involvement. This is our river, our access point, and we don’t want to lose it,” Pat Palmer, a concerned neighbor, said.
“We want to have open communication, which has been sorely lacking, and that includes all stakeholders,” Joyce Blumenshine said.
The citizens alleged that the people in charge of the land have been negligent, allowing it to fall into disrepair.
Andy Schneider, president of the trust that owns the property, told 25 News Tuesday that they depended on selling gas and boat traffic to maintain the property years ago. Since then, boating and use of the marina have changed, and it hasn’t been making money since 2010.
Trustees want to sell part of the land where the parking lot is, but plan on keeping eight or nine acres.
Schneider promised Riverfront access won’t be cut off for community members, as the land trust requires. The trust group plans to use the money they receive from the sale to improve the property they keep.
“We haven’t had anybody come forward to offer us a bunch of money to keep it the way it is, so we had to look at other options,” Schneider said.
J.P. O’Brien, president of O’Brien Steel, said their plans for the property would be to store steel outside, and no buildings are planned. He added a portion of the Rock Island Greenway Trail would be moved as part of their plans. It would still be on the property, just in a different place.
O’Brien also said the City of Peoria was only brought into the sale process about a week ago. There was a meeting between his company and the city to discuss current zoning of the property and allowable uses. Most sale negotiations have been between the company and the Detweiller Trust.
State Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) was at the community meeting Monday, and made comments to the group based on what he heard.
“This is exactly how you don’t want to do any kind of development in a community. I mean the first thing you do is you reach out to the neighborhood, and you say, ‘We’ve got an idea, what do you think?’ And you begin to negotiate what’s important to all the parties involved,” he said.
Koehler clarified that Caroline Street could not be closed without city council giving the go ahead, which was another citizen concern. He promised to speak to Peoria city leaders and the attorney general to see what he could do about the situation.
Comments