Civil and Municipal - Mar 2023

111 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 HIGHLAND, I LL INOIS commercial properties around the city. One of the well-known retailers is Kloss Furniture, which has a showroom and warehouse in Highland even as it has expanded to other communities around the region. “It’s important that we attract smaller (retailer) shops and businesses that support the larger businesses in the city,” says developer David Schlafly, who is one of the owners of Schlafly’s Highland Square. The ongoing developments and commercial interest from investors and developers are one reason he believes investments in Highland will continue. Highland itself is nearly 70 percent through the completion of a streetscape plan that includes new sidewalks, lighting, and curbs. Additional roads and sidewalks will be added with hopes for the project to be completed later this year. A prominent developer committed to investing more than $1 million into luxury apartments near downtown last year with new hotels expected to be added in the coming years based on the potential growth they could achieve outlined in a hotel feasibility study commission by the city of Highland. There is interest from other developers in residential departments elsewhere around the town as well. Employers have invested in Highland as well, including Trouw Nutrition, an innovator in the animal nutrition and pet food industry. It has two facilities located in Highland, including its recently completed Blending Innovation Center (BIC), and is often a sponsor of events in the community. “We continue to see outside investors coming to Highland because they see there are special things happening here and many unique services,” Hemann says. Highland strives to provide its residents with an array of services to make their lives more convenient while also supporting business needs. One way to do this is through Highland Communications Services (HCS). It is one of the only municipally owned Internet service providers in the nation. Established in 2010, HCS was developed in response to overwhelming support from citizens to create a fiber-to-the- premises system. Its Wi-Fi services allow Highland to be a subject matter expert in the field. Today HCS has nearly 2,700 customers and more than 50 percent of the market share within city limits. HCS was recognized as providing the eighth best customer service in its sector in the nation four years ago, around the same time that an independent study conducted by Harvard University found HCS to be the fifth best-valued service in the country, saving customers an average of 44 percent over a leading competitor. Hemann says it is one reason that Highland is known by some throughout southern Illinois as the “Gigabit City.” “This is big for businesses and important to our residents,” Hemann says. “It is also attractive to remote workers.”