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Illinois River Edge Redevelopment Zone Program (9 Zones)
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO)See programDeadline: Rolling — projects must be located within one of 9 designated zones. State HTC application via Illinois Department of Natural Resources State Historic Preservation Office (IL SHPO, formerly ILHPA) parallel to federal HTC. RE-HTC program currently authorized through 12/31/2028.
Illinois state program targeting commercial redevelopment along the major Illinois rivers (Fox River — Aurora/Elgin, Mississippi — East St Louis/Quincy, Illinois River — Peoria/La Salle/Ottawa/Peru, Rock River — Rockford, Mississippi River corridor — Rock Island/Moline/East Moline, Kankakee River — Kankakee, Des Plaines/Illinois — Joliet). Combines historic preservation, environmental remediation, and enterprise zone benefits. Most heavily used for adaptive reuse of historic industrial and downtown buildings. State HTC (25% of QREs, uncapped within zone) stacks with federal HTC (20% of QREs) for combined 45% effective rate on qualified rehabilitation expenditures.
Program details
- Agency
- Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO)
- Level
- State
- Category
- State Tax Incentive
- Eligibility
- Income-producing real estate development projects located within designated River Edge zones (as of May 2026): Aurora, East St Louis, Elgin, Joliet, Kankakee, Peoria, Quincy, Rock Island, Rockford. Additional municipalities added via June 2024 expansion (East Moline, La Salle, Moline, Ottawa, Peru) and April 2026 Moline designation. Historic preservation credit requires structure listed on National Register (federally certified) and rehab meeting Secretary of Interior's Standards. Environmental remediation credit requires qualifying brownfield characteristics.
- Funding Amount
- River Edge Historic Tax Credit (RE-HTC): 25% of qualified rehabilitation expenditures (QREs) for certified historic structures within a designated River Edge zone — non-competitive and UNCAPPED within zones (vs the broader statewide IL HTC, which caps at $3M per project). Combined with Enterprise Zone-style sales tax exemptions on building materials. Per-project state HTC value typically $100K–$3M+ depending on project scale; large rehabs can substantially exceed.
- Deadline
- Rolling — projects must be located within one of 9 designated zones. State HTC application via Illinois Department of Natural Resources State Historic Preservation Office (IL SHPO, formerly ILHPA) parallel to federal HTC. RE-HTC program currently authorized through 12/31/2028.
- Status
- open
- Geographic Scope
- Illinois only
- Project Types
- real_estate, commercial, multifamily, adaptive_reuse, historic_preservation
- Client Types
- commercial
- Notes
- For evlv.energy clients: high relevance for adaptive reuse projects in the 9 designated zones, particularly when energy retrofit is part of the rehab scope (§179D federal + state RE-HTC + River Edge stack). Surface in research chat when query mentions any of: Aurora, East St Louis, Elgin, Joliet, Kankakee, Peoria, Quincy, Rock Island, Rockford, East Moline, La Salle, Moline, Ottawa, Peru, historic, adaptive reuse, downtown redevelopment.
Source: Grantya research. Confirm current terms with the administering agency before applying.