Sunnyland Plaza

It sprang from nothing. What was previously an unincorporated, empty lot in Sunnyland at the southeast corner of Route 8 and Summit Drive was transformed within a few months into the community's epicenter.

Before any announcements about the shopping center's construction, a sign posted in the summer of 1970 on the property gave the residents a taste of what was coming: a new Kroger store was coming.

In the early stages of the development, commitments were received from Kroger and Super X drug store, as well as Sunnyland Bank, which was originally slated to be constructed on the southeast corner of the intersection. The only delay in breaking ground and announcing the development was a commitment from a discount store. In late 1970, the developers received one from Belscot, and the announcement of the shopping center was made. 

The plans from the original announcements differ from what was eventually constructed, however. In early press releases, it was stated that Kroger and Super X would occupy the north end of the shopping center, Belscot would occupy the south end, and an indoor mall of almost twenty stores would be constructed in between. Completion of the entire $1.8 million project was slated to be in late 1971/early 1972. Interestingly, and somewhat prophetically, developers envisioned a movie theater eventually existing in the shopping center near the Belscot area.

Super X Drug Store opened the first store in the shopping center on November 3, 1971. In announcements of the grand openings of the first stores, updates on other developments were given. The Sunnyland Bank building was announced to be constructed on the southwest corner of Route 8 and 24, and a Mr. Quick restaurant was going to be located next to it. All of this was happening at the same time in Sunnyland, bringing big changes to the community.

Kroger opened on November 9, 1971, and Belscot followed on November 19, 1971.

After these three anchor stores opened in Sunnyland Plaza, the grand plan of an enclosed mall with 20-25 stores seemed to fizzle. Sunnyland Plaza ended up taking a standard strip mall format, and stores started filling spots in 1972. The Bell Clothing Store became the first smaller store to open in late 1972. Guzzardo’s Cards & Books followed, as did JoAnn Fabric.

In 1973, an addition to the north end of Kroger began, and several small businesses took root there, including Plaza Liquors in 1974 and a branch of the Washington District Library in 1975.

In 1977 the Caterpillar Credit Union (CEFCU) building was constructed and opened late in the year.

In 1982, the Plaza started to fall on hard times.  With the declining economy already hurting things, a Caterpillar strike really crushed Sunnyland businesses.  In a one-week span in October 1982, the plaza lost Kroger and Hornsby’s, which had replaced Belscot.  This led to a slow but steady 25-year decline in the plaza’s business residency and consistency.

In February 1991, Sunnyland Theatres, an eight-theater complex, opened on the south end of the plaza. On opening weekend, 10,000 customers patronized the business.

The closing of CVS Drugs and Sullivan Foods in the early 2000s was a crushing blow to the shopping center.

By 2007, the Sunnyland Plaza had become a ghost town of empty storefronts and “for sale” signs.  Only two or three businesses still occupied the center.  Part of the problem was the California-based owner wasn’t all that motivated to find new tenants.  A potential life-raft was floated in 2008 with the proposed improvements to the Route 8 corridor and the Summit Drive extension to Centennial Drive, improvements sure to increase traffic flow and potentially encourage business growth.  But that would take years to come to fruition.

The life raft saved the plaza. In 2010, a local investment group bought the property and developed a revitalization plan. Working with incentives provided by the city and in tandem with the road improvement projects, the new plan modernized the plaza's appearance.

WASHINGTON - Dennis Landry has lived within a "three-iron" of Sunnyland Plaza since the shopping center opened in 1965. He saw it flourish into a community hub and watched its slow demise, which started in 2004 when anchor tenant Sullivan's Foods departed. Several renovation attempts that never got off the ground contributed to the eyesore. Now, Landry is an eyewitness to what the new plaza owners hope will be a rebirth of the shopping center, located at the intersection of Illinois Route 8 (Washington Road) and Summit Drive on the western edge of Washington near Sunnyland, an unincorporated area between Washington and East Peoria. Sunnyland Development Partners intends to spend $2 million to overhaul the nearly 120,000-square-foot plaza. Landry couldn't be happier about what developer Ray Poe has planned. "He has a great imagination, and he gets what the plaza is all about," said Landry, who has become a staunch, vocal supporter of the shopping center since serving on the Washington City Council for a year after his appointment to an open seat in 2006. What Poe "gets" is that the plaza needs to be remade into a conglomeration of small shops, a change dictated by a changing business landscape, said Landry. "The plaza is functionally obsolete for big box stores. But it's well-located and well-positioned to become a neighborhood center with smaller retail spaces," Poe said. There are five spaces in the section of the plaza that faces Route 8. The portion that faces Summit Drive, which used to house Sullivan's, will be transformed from four to 13 spaces, with the majority less than 4,000 square feet apiece. Included in the transformation is the demolition in March of the center of what used to be Sullivan's, removing about 15,000 square feet of the 40,000-square-foot space. The opening will create a new parking lot and retail areas. The iconic - and perhaps original - but battered Sunnyland Plaza sign along Route 8 will be renovated. Sidewalks will be transformed into wide promenades, green space and new lighting will be added. While work began on the 12-acre site last fall, about 50 percent of the plaza remains occupied by the Washington District Library branch, Sunnyland 10 Cinemas and a Dollar General store, located in a separate building in the back of the property. Old canopies have been removed and facades have been sandblasted to expose original brick. The front of the movie theater has a new look, including a new sign. Ten "now playing" movie boxes soon will be added to the theater's exterior. The parking lot has also been resurfaced. Poe expects the project's exterior work to be substantially completed by the end of 2012. In the meantime, he'll continue to meet with prospective tenants. "We've had several inquiries in the few months since work began," he said. "Most are interested in spaces between 1,000 and 4,000 square feet. I've shown the plaza to 10 of the 15 potential users who have contacted us." Poe said he's been getting positive feedback from residents he's met when they've been walking through the plaza. That wasn't the case a few months ago when the project was just beginning. "Back then, people didn't believe it was really happening," he said. "They were skeptical. Now, they appear to be excited. I hope so. We're going to take something that was undesirable and make it desirable." Skeptical taxpayers may be excited to know that Sunnyland Development Partners asked for and received a termination of a redevelopment agreement with the city of Washington. The termination relieved the city of a $400,000 loan toward the cost of the project.

PEORIA JOURNAL STAR 3 Jan 2012

With the improvements made to Sunnyland Plaza, the shopping center was named Washington Plaza. Interestingly, the area near Plaza Lanes and McDonalds used to be known as Washington Plaza as late as the early 1970s, hence the name of the bowling alley.

Sunnyland Plaza has certainly led a roller coaster life, riding the highs and lows of the local economy to prosper and suffer. Although its focus has changed since the original vision, it continues to be a beacon of the Sunnyland community. Here’s to many more years of success.

**The Washington Rewind Business Directory provides a detailed list of all businesses that have existed in Sunnyland Plaza.