The Illinois Business Journal

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
February 2007 issue - Vol.7, No.5, 24 pages

We Mean Business. Illinois Business.

Local attorneys seeking to bring major league soccer to Collinsville

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By KERRY L. SMITH

   Prominent East Alton attorneys and partners Jeff Cooper and John Simmons - and a noted sports agent - are ambitiously working with the city of Collinsville in hopes of bringing major league soccer to St. Louis by 2008.
   The investors, under the entity known as St. Louis Professional Soccer Expansion Group LLC, have been in negotiations with both of this country's professional leagues, the United Soccer League and Major League Soccer. They've also been in serious discussion with the city of Collinsville about leasing space in a brand-new outdoor stadium that the city and other public partners would build to accommodate a major-league soccer team. The discussions continue, according to Cooper.
   Michael Huyghue, the youngest vice president in the history of the NFL and now a sports agency owner, is the third investor in the LLC.
   After the LLC's own feasibility study and extensive conversations with several municipalities in Illinois and Missouri, Cooper says [continue]

Negotiations are currently under way between attorneys Jeff Cooper, John Simmons, sports agent Michael Huyghue and the city of Collinsville on a joint venture that would bring major league soccer to Collinsville by 2008 and a major economic impact to the entire region.

Election causes Missouri officials to reconsider stance on toll bridge

With Democrats assuming power in Washington, D.C., Missouri is reconsidering financing its portion of the $910 million new bridge project.

By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   The state of Missouri is beginning to bend on its insistence on tolls on the proposed new Mississippi River Bridge, according to an unidentified source close to the negotiations.
   The Illinois Business Journal has been told that the two states are in conversations with Macquarie Bank Limited of Australia regarding financing the project with a long amortization and payments to be made from transportation funds - not tolls.
   According to the source, Missouri also needs to finance between $400 million and $600 million to repair approximately 800 bridges throughout the [continue]

Energy plant, refinery to vie for thousands of construction workers in late 2007

By KERRY L. SMITH

With the nearing construction of an immense electricity generating station and coal mine in Washington County - and a major expansion at an oil refinery in Madison County - Southwestern Illinois will reap the economic impact of literally thousands of construction jobs, averaging four years in duration, beginning in the 4th quarter of 2007.
Peabody Energy Co., the world's largest private-sector coal company, is finalizing

financing and expects to break ground by September '07 on its Prairie State Energy Campus. Site work - which included site preparation, road improvements and the relocation of some utilities - began in October 2006.
Billed as one of the largest private capital projects ever undertaken in Southern Illinois, the clean coal plant to be built roughly four miles [continue]

Look inside our print edition for more 2006: Development Year In Review articles!