Bigger raceway part of $21 million plan for Belle-Clair Fairgrounds. Here’s what else
St. Clair County officials announced at a press conference Tuesday that they have secured an additional $5 million in state funding for the overhaul of Belle-Clair Fairgrounds & Expo Center, which will include building a new, bigger Belle-Clair Speedway.
The state grant brings the total funding for the county’s project at the 200 South Belt East property to $21.35 million.
The $5 million “will bring us this vision,” County Board Chairman Mark Kern told the BND, motioning to a poster showing renderings of what the fairgrounds will look like once the renovations are completed.
“There are certainly improvements that we hope to make in the future, but this will take us to where we need to be to have a track and have this facility elevated,” he added.
The $5 million is coming through funds that have been appropriated in Illinois’ fiscal year 2025 budget that Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed earlier this month. State Sen. Chris Belt, D-Swansea, and state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, advocated for the appropriation of funds in the state’s capital budget.
Belt told the BND that getting the state funding for the fairgrounds was among the top priorities for him and Hoffman during the recent budgetary process.
“This is, in a sense, back to the future,” he said during the press conference.
The lawmakers are especially excited to see racing return to the site and for the fairgrounds to become an economic driver for the community, Belt told the BND.
The $5 million state grant will be in addition to the $14 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds the county has already allocated for improving the aging infrastructure at the fairgrounds and $2.35 million in federal relief funds it used to purchase the property in late 2022.
The renovations include:
A new racetrack, which will be rebuilt in the empty southeast corner of the property just south of Charles Street. The new track will be a quarter-mile long, bigger than the old one that was one-fifth of a mile.
A new outdoor event space where the old track currently stands.
A new roof, redesigned exterior and upgrades to the electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at the expo center. The building will also be renovated inside when the HVAC is done, including a new ceiling and wall dividing capabilities for small events, Kern told the BND Tuesday.
An emergency shelter consisting of 20 restrooms with showers added to the back of the expo center for citizens who may need to stay at the fairgrounds during disasters. The existing bathrooms in the center will also be modernized.
A new fence around the property, greenspace and a roundabout in the parking lot to help direct traffic and storage garage for maintenance and track equipment.
Another entrance and exit where the former Auffenberg used car lot sits to the west of the property.
When the county purchased the facility, officials thought auto racing could return to the existing track again, but they found out they couldn’t get insurance because of the way it was built, Kern said during the press conference. It would have cost more to renovate the track, stands and restroom and concession facilities than it would to build them new, he said.
As of May, the county has closed on seven real estate purchases in recent months totaling $1.3 million to expand the fairgrounds property. The properties include the Auffenberg lot to the west and the former DeVan Automotive Services, two homes and a vacant lot to the east.
Kern told the BND Tuesday that there are a couple small parcels of city property that the county needs to be able to complete the project. The properties are where a trolley right-of-way used to be along the former N. 12th Street, he said.
“They’re inconsequential to the city. Nobody uses them,” Kern said. “It was always just assumed they were a part of this property.”
The county will begin the process of acquiring those parcels in the near future, he said.
The current goals are to revive the county fair at the grounds and races at the Belle-Clair Speedway by fall 2025.
The St. Clair County Fair was canceled in 2015 due to financial difficulties. Races at the Belle-Clair Speedway were halted in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The county used the fairgrounds as a mass testing and vaccination site, administering more than 100,000 shots.
“The future’s bright for this fairgrounds. It looks a little long in the tooth right now, but that’s all going to change,” Kern said at the press conference. The roof and HVAC improvements at the expo center are beginning “very soon,” he added, as well as the emergency shelter. Next month, work on the livestock facility will begin to accommodate the return of the county fair.
The fairgrounds “has its fascinating history woven into the fabric of this community and this country, from its days as the Civil War camp to the site of COVID response,” Kern said.
“It’s clear that this ground is among the most storied anywhere in the region.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2024 at 3:20 PM.
