The former Great Plains Building is the only vacant building in Blair’s “Block 37.”

A somewhat tongue-in-cheek story by the Chicago Tribune has led to a challenge between Blair and “the Windy City” to see which can develop a block of property in the shortest amount of time.

Mike Conklin, a feature writer for the Tempo section of the Chicago Tribune, wrote the Oct. 15 story “Block 37 Derby: Can we beat Blair?” in which he explained the similarities between Chicago’s attempt to develop a one-block area of the legendary State Street and Blair’s attempt to revitalize its downtown area.

Calling Chicago’s Block 37 “the world’s most expensive vacant lot,” Conklin explained all the buildings on the lot were demolished in 1989 to make the lot more attractive to potential businesses. After remaining vacant for 15 years, the 400,000-square-foot lot was sold to developers with the Mills Corporation in October for a mixed-use project. While no concrete plans have been made, some of the proposals include adding condominiums, retail businesses and office buildings as well as a possible city-run casino.

Conklin did an Internet search to see if other communities had similar development projects. After searching for the term “Block 37,” Conklin found a website explaining Blair’s plan to revitalize the business district along Washington Street. With Chicago’s Block 37 project slated to be completed by 2007, Conklin issued a challenge to see which city would be first to meet its goals. He also said the challenge was made to show city leaders how a small town like Blair can sometimes be just as successful as large cities with development projects.

“Here in Chicago, we’ve stumbled and bumbled with our project for 15 years,” Conklin said. “The challenge is to see if we can beat a town of 7,000 people. It has almost a David and Goliath aspect.”

Harriet Waite, executive director of the Blair Area Chamber of Commerce, said the only vacant building in Blair’s Block 37 is the former Great Plains Communications building next to Wolff’s Jewelers. Although Waite said Blair appears to have the advantage , the derby should serve as a way to get the city interested in developing the entire business district.

“We just thought maybe we could use this to our advantage,” Waite said. “I think this is one way to get the word out and just show people that other cities are in the same predicament we are in. It’s fun in that Chicago is this big city that is going to challenge little ol’ Blair.”

In her interview with Conklin, Waite spoke primarily about the goals established in the Hyett Palma Blair Downtown Action Agenda. The agenda, written in 2000, said Blair needs to have specialty shops and more retail businesses as well as cafes and art and entertainment venues to attract shoppers. Among the chamber’s goals is getting a fine dining establishment and niche shops in the downtown area. Waite said chamber members are also working to bring what she termed “necessity shops,” such as clothing stores, back to Blair.

“We would like all of the new businesses to be retail,” Waite said. “If we can attract unique, quaint retail shops in our downtown area, that is what we want. It is also important we support the businesses we already have so we don’t lose any additional businesses while recruiting new businesses. If our current businesses are thriving, it will be easier to bring new businesses in town.”

Members of the chamber’s downtown retail recruitment committee have also met with the owners of businesses in nearby towns to see if they would be interested in expanding their business or relocating their business to Blair.

Conklin said Blair has much going for it and, while his challenge was not meant to be taken seriously, he believes the small town of 7,000 people will win the contest.

“If you get your project done, you will have done it while maintaining an environment,” Conklin said. “In our project, we chose to level everything and start from scratch. ”