New Brick Facades in Downtown + Hotwire Networks

Several projects are moving forward in Downtown Tuscola and one of the recently completed projects is already looking to expand.

Located at 134 West Sale, this project will be the home of a new business, Hotwire Networks. This project was made possible through the assistance of a TIF grant & loan package in combination with the owners' personal investment and private bank financing. Owners Adam Burwell and Eddie Boutilier are nearing completion of a renovation of 134 West Sale and have added a new brick facade to the first floor. The second floor brick facades of both 132 & 134 West Sale were tuckpointed as well.  

After getting their project underway, the owners approached Alan Hettinger about the possibility of purchasing the building next door (132 West Sale) which would allow additional space for the anticipated expansion needs of Burwell's business, Hotwire Networks. The 134 West Sale side had an existing apartment on the second floor. The anticipated renovation on the 132 West Sale side will allow for the addition of two new apartment units in the Downtown District. 

Overall, a win-win situation for their business and Tuscola. 

This was late summer - in the middle of construction.

The brick facade at 134 West Sale is now complete with only a few things left to finish.

The developers anticipate providing a face-lift to 132 West Sale (seen above) with a new brick facade exactly like the one on the west (left) building.

SAM Food Pantry Donation

Check out this story about a recent donation to our local food pantry and the amazing guy who made it all possible! 

Santa came a little early this year for the SAM Food Pantry and instead of a sleigh, he had two semi-trucks full of food – about 33,000 pounds worth or 16.5 tons. On Monday, November 28^th, SAM Food Pantry volunteers and City workers gathered to unload the donated items, which were stored at the pantry as well as in an empty storefront at Tanger Outlet Center due to the large amount of goods.

The magnificent donation was made by Jim Hausman through the Hausman Charitable Foundation – a foundation started by Jim to provide food donations to worthy charities. In the last few years, Jim has provided hundreds of thousands of pounds of food to Douglas and Sangamon Counties, which certainly meets their main goal: feeding hungry kids in Central Illinois. Jim also made a donation to the SAM Food Pantry last year, but wanted to increase it this year because of the increase in individuals/families using the pantry’s services. At the end of this October, the pantry had already served 6,499 persons – more persons than all of last year (6,382). The increase in donations included: 2 more pallets of veggies, 10 cases of noodles, 30% more fruit, and pallets of applesauce because that’s always a kid favorite.

Jim, son of Nancy (Rice) Hausman and the late John Hausman, has always considered Tuscola “home” because his family grew up here. Jim’s grandparents, Chop and Bethel Rice, lived in Tuscola, which is where his mom now resides. Plus, the Hausman family has always farmed around Pesotum. In 2001, Jim was awarded the Illinois Red Cross Corporate Leadership Award and has also been inducted into the Clara Barton Society of the Red Cross.

The SAM Food Pantry is located at the Tuscola United Methodist Church and is open on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 to 11:00 am. If you are interested in volunteering, please call the church office at 217-253-4232 or Betsy Stuerke (Director) at 217-253-4390.

Thank you, Jim! Your kindness and love will benefit a lot of individuals/families in Douglas County.

New Wind Turbine

Check out the City's new wind turbine - it should be in operation before the end of the month, generating electricity to power our sewer plant! 

Update: Installation is complete and they are finalizing the internet connection for the on-board diagnostics. 24-hour monitoring is part of the maintenance agreement, so any problems or faults can be identified immediately and repaired. The turbine will auto-stop in the meantime. We also have a monitoring computer at City Hall, so we can track power output, wind speed, direction, net electrical metering, and maintenance faults.

It is a Northwind 100 turbine built by Northern Power Systems and installed by Midwest Underground Technologies, Inc. It is the exact same model turbine that MUTI has at their facility west of Champaign.