CAHOKIA - The investment group that recently announced its intent to purchase 50 acres and all of the buildings on the former Parks College campus in Cahokia is led by Loren Schultz of Philadelphia, Penn.
   Schultz has a long history in developing and operating privately-owned business incubators.
   His plan for Parks is to utilize the existing buildings for a multi-tenant business park, a 40,000-square-foot business incubator and for the village of Cahokia to retain four buildings - including the multi-purpose [continue]

   Collinsville Crossing, the proposed 450,000-square-foot retail center in Collinsville, is just the latest in a long line of projects by Koman Properties Inc. in Southwestern Illinois.
   Since 1988, developer Jim Koman, president of Koman Properties, has developed more than 1.1 million square feet of retail centers across Southwestern Illinois. He currently has 160,000 square feet under construction in Granite City. And with Collinsville Crossing and other planned projects in Troy and Wood River, Koman has 600,000 square feet on the drawing board.
   The target area for Collinsville Crossing - an area bounded by Interstates 55/70, Bluff Road

and Mall Street, referred to as the (Illinois Route) 157 Corridor - was an area that was languishing with high vacancy rates, physical deterioration and crime, according to Paul Mann, Collinsville's director of community development and tax increment financing.
   "When I came for my job interview, I didn't really know much about Collinsville," Mann said. "I got off the highway, looked at that area and said, 'That's gotta go.' Now it's becoming reality, and that's exciting," he said.
   Mann said he saw the area as a sleeping giant, overlooked by the development community. He was introduced to Koman by [continue]