The Downtown Strategic Plan seeks to provide a “roadmap” for the improvement of downtown Joliet. Downtown Joliet is a truly unique place with a paradox of tremendous assets along with a number of stubborn challenges to overcome. The assets include a rich heritage, strong architectural character, regionally significant uses, major entertainment and cultural attractions, and a strong rail and bus transportation network. Downtown Joliet can be very successful as a satellite urban center for the southwest suburban region, including portions of “downstate” Illinois. Significant downtown improvement can be accomplished by following a strategy that builds upon strengths and mitigates weaknesses. This strategic plan provided a realistic approach, one based on both private-sector and public sector investment.
The improvement strategy recognized downtown Joliet’s inherent role and function. The downtown evolved not as a suburban downtown, but as a true urban center. This is one of the downtown’s core strengths, and improvement should be based on the downtown functioning as a regional urban center, which contains a series of regionally significant uses as well as local/community oriented uses. This role and function reinforces the downtown’s existing strengths.
The development strategy described in the plan provided clear direction for actions and initiatives to drive real change in the downtown. The strategy identified for improving downtown Joliet was to make Joliet a mecca for young adults, which leveraged existing strengths, mitigated weaknesses, and would work in the downtown’s weak market context.
