Growth along this corridor has businesses, officials calling it the next State Street
A wave of new development in Loves Park may be reminiscent of a Rockford boom that happened more than 30 years ago.
A main thoroughfare that separates Loves Park and Rockford, East Riverside Boulevard from Mulford Road to Mercyhealth Sportscore Two, is now home to several new businesses and others in various stages of opening.
From chains to local small businesses, the new arrivals have some residents comparing the boom to how it was in the late 1980s and mid 1990s when East State Street—from Alpine Road to the tollway—exploded with activity, becoming one of the region's main retail and dining destinations.
“When East State blew up, that was kind of the main hub in the area,” said Scott Frank, co-owner of Baked Wings at 6390 E. Riverside and Pomodoro Italian Restaurant a couple doors down on the same side of the street. “Then 173 kind of blew up. But now East Riverside is kind of taking control.”
Most of the new development is currently happening on the north side of East Riverside, in Loves Park with recent additions like Burger King, Chipotle, Baked Wings, KBQ Korean BBQ and Chicken, Cantina Taco, Lino's and more. Projects under construction include Buona Beef and The Original Rainbow Cone, two popular Chicago-area chains.
Longtime Rockford Italian restaurant Capri decided to move to Loves Park in 2023, a year after a fire gutted its downtown establishment, where it operated for 60 years. Capri owners cited cost of rebuilding their historic Rockford building as the major reason they chose to set up shop at a former Shell station at 6480 E. Riverside Blvd., smack dab in the middle of Riverside's growth area.
Other recent impactful business openings on Riverside include Fozzy's Skybox and Lino's.
The owners of Fozzy’s, 6246 E. Riverside Blvd., opened Fozzy’s Skybox in 2022 inside Sportscore Two's giant Indoor Sports Center. The location features food, drinks, televisions, video gaming machines and four Full Swing Pro 2 golf and multi-sport simulators.
Lino’s, another Rockford mainstay, now has a carryout operation inside a shipping container next to Sportscore and is also converting a nearby building into an event center.
Loves Park officials say improvements at Sportscore, the addition of Costco and the opening of Javon Bea Hospital-Riverside have all played a role in the area's growth.
“Sportscore brings in thousands of people on the weekend,” said Loves Park Mayor Greg Jury. “And they’re going out to eat and stuff like that.”
Jury also said the city is working diligently to make the Loves Park side of East Riverside Boulevard an attractive place to open a business.
“I like to tell people that we are easy to do business with, and they enjoy dealing with us,” he said. "We've got more coming."
Some business owners on the street say that while they are reaping the benefits at the moment, things could change as more of the same businesses come in.
“Everything is great now,” said Tim Wauchope, who’s owned Buddy’s Burgers at 6551 E. Riverside Blvd., Rockford, for 10 years. “But it concerns me. Because you can only put so many restaurants in one space before people start to lose sales. Ten years ago there was no competition out here. There could be a tipping point.”
Other businesses along East Riverside Boulevard from Mulford to Sportscore include Lincoln Rent-All & Sales, Village Green, Tuffy's Auto Service, Napleton Honda, Anderson Toyota, Greenfire Restaurant Bar & Bakery and Lonnie's Carpet Max.
Jim Hagerty writes about business, growth and development and other general news topics for the Rockford Register Star. Email him at jhagerty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford area has new "it" corridor straddling Rockford, Loves Park
