By: By Jennifer Willems

PERU — In an effort to support its monastic community and its ministry to the people of the Diocese of Peoria and beyond, St. Bede Abbey intends to develop about 80 acres of its property for senior housing.

The first phase would be an assisted living center with 70 units, including 29 units for those in need of “memory care,” said Abbot Claude Peifer, OSB.

The monks hope to add independent living units and a skilled nursing facility to the “village” so there would be a continuum of care, he said. In addition, plans call for a commercial retail center to be built close to U.S. Highway 6.

“It is a major undertaking for us, but we think this is a way to expand our mission and be of service to the people of the Illinois Valley,” Abbot Claude told The Catholic Post.

Making the $15 million project possible is a “very generous” agreement with the Spring Valley City Council, which is providing funding from the city’s tax increment district over the next 20 years.

“They will give part of that tax stream to the developer as it comes in,” he said, noting that this is about 64 percent of the projected TIF revenue. The rest will be used for schools and other needs of the city.

The property that is being developed is between St. Bede’s back lane and Webster Park in Spring Valley. Abbot Claude said not only is all of it in Spring Valley, but all of it is within the TIF district, which was set up three years ago.

He explained that Spring Valley leaders were open to the project because it would help with the tax base and allow them to proceed with some of their goals.

“We don’t have a financing package put together yet, but this is the last thing we require,” he said. In February, the monks signed an agreement with the investment bank that, together with local banks, will help them arrange for the financing needed to proceed.

Because they would be borrowing so much money and didn’t want to put the community at risk, the monks have established a separate corporation. This will also help them when it comes time to apply for a loan guarantee through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Abbot Claude said.

Assisting them has been developer Jim Louthen of Town Builder Studios in Riverside.

Bids on the first phase were due back at the end of February, and Abbot Claude said there will be a meeting to discuss them later this week.

MEETING A NEED
Necessity was the mother of invention for St. Bede, which has seen its revenue decline with the number of active members.

“The community now consists of 25 monks. Fifty years ago — 1960 approximately — we were 75 monks,” Abbot Claude told The Post. “We have survived financially on the labor of our monks. Obviously we don’t have as much income as we used to have.

“We had to do something about our financial situation in order to survive,” he said.

Since the Benedictine community was established in 1891, the monks have added about 800 acres to their holdings and farmed what was arable. When land was appreciating in value, however, the monks started to look at selling some of what was not being used for religious or educational purposes and setting up an endowment.

“We were actively talking to potential buyers, some for residential purposes and some for commercial purposes,” Abbot Claude said. “Then the market collapsed in 2007.”

In the process, they had met Louthen, who said there were still ways to develop the land in such an economy. After brainstorming with community leaders for a day about future development for St. Bede, the monks had many suggestions for their educational mission, continuing education and lifelong learning.

“One of them was to care for retired people. There is an increasing need in our society,” Abbot Claude said. “That was the beginning of this project. We have been talking about it for a year and refining it.”

A market feasibility study conducted for them by Revere Healthcare, Ltd. of Cary and an informal survey of their alumni gave the Benedictines a “reasonable guarantee” that the project would work.

If all goes according to plan, ground could be broken this summer, with construction completed early in 2013, Abbot Claude said. Provena Life Connections, the same organization that runs St. Joseph’s Home of Lacon, has been contracted to operate the new facility.

“It’s not just a financial issue, but a question of what we should be doing as part of our religious mission in the future besides St. Bede Academy,” Abbot Claude said. “The academy is reasonably well positioned now.”