Corporate Office:
​100 19th Street, STE 109
Rock Island, Illinois 61201
309-794-6711
​
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Shimer Square 
Mt. Carroll, IL 

203 E. Seminary Street, Mt. Carroll, IL 
Mixed-Use
$60+ Million Investment over 7 years

Phase One (2021): $12 million investment, 37 units of rental housing
Phase Two (2021): $18.5 million investment, 51 units of rental housing
Shimer Square is a comprehensive redevelopment of a former college campus into a mixture of housing, business, and community amenities.

GROWTH’s goals and objectives for Shimer Square is to incorporate a dynamic mixture of uses while putting the historic properties back into a tax generating status for the benefit of Mount Carroll residents, businesses, and visitors. The end result will also increase employment opportunities and engage area residents through programmed activities.

The project site encapsulates the entire campus footprint of the historic Shimer College, a 14-acre campus with a total of 17 buildings, former residential halls and instructional buildings solidly constructed between the time from 1903 and 1957.
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Since taking ownership, GROWTH has engaged and worked with the community on its redevelopment plans, including the renaming of the campus to define its future.  The campus will be transformed into a mixed-use, diversified portfolio of housing, business incubation, artist and community space as a sustainable, diverse, inclusive, equitable historical community asset built for the future. 

Total development costs exceed $60 million and will be completed within five to seven years. Phase by phase, GROWTH will create new opportunity and an entirely new tax base for the Mt. Carroll, IL community and northwest Illinois. 
Above: In May 2019, by community ballots and ultimately a coin toss by the Mayor, the campus was renamed Shimer Square, officially kicking off the multi-year, multi-phase redevelopment work throughout five (5) phases.
Name Changes Throughout History
  • Mount Carroll Seminary (1853)
  • Frances Shimer Academy of the University of Chicago (1896)
  • Frances Shimer Academy and Junior College (1932)
  • Frances Shimer College (1942)
  • Shimer College (1950)
  • Shimer Square (2019-current)
Above:
  • Located at 203 E. Seminary Street, the campus consists of 14 acres of park-like campus located in the center of Mount Carroll, Illinois. The buildings highlighted demonstrate the various phases of redevelopment, depicted below:
Blue: Phase 1
  • Phase 1 takes on 3 of the 17 total buildings on the campus and the front entry gate:
  • Adaptive-reuse of two buildings (Bennett Hall and Hathaway Hall) into 37 units of rental housing.
  • Rehabilitation of the Sawyer House and repurposing the facility into a resource center for entrepreneurs, homeowners, and renters so they can have access to resources and tools to help create wealth-building opportunities for them in their future. 
  • Rehabilitation of the front entry gate that serves as the gateway entrance for all that will be entering into the mixed-use campus. ​
  • Total project costs exceed $12 million that will create and support 271 jobs through its construction period. 
  • Click here to view Phase 1 news release.
Yellow: Phase 2
  • Adaptive-reuse of three buildings ( McKee/ Hostetter and Dezendorf Halls are combined, and appear as one building) converting the former residential halls into into 51 units of rental housing featuring studio, 1, 2, and 3 bedrooms ranging in size from 580 to 1,125 square feet. 
  • Amenities will include a community room, game room, library area, walking path, community garden, bike racks, and picnic tables and outdoor grill area.
  • Total project costs exceed $18.7 million that will result in the creation of an entirely new tax base for the city of Mount Carroll, create 200 construction jobs, and provide housing that is affordable to new residents who wish to call Shimer Square home. 
  • Click here to view Phase 2 news release.
Above: A historical photo of the former Shimer College campus. ​Shimer College was an American Great Books college, first founded in 1852 in the town of Mount Carroll, Illinois. This school was one of the first academies for women. Shimer College was originally known as Mount Carroll Seminary, having undergone multiple name changes throughout its existence.
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GROWTH intends to reuse the contents that remain within the Shimer Square campus. A group of licensed curators came to Shimer Square to help provide direction, helping to assist with taking inventory and provided guidance to GROWTH on how to care for the historical items that remain on the campus.