Thursday, September 17, 2009

Caterpillar's Committement to the Museum Updated

In a letter from Caterpillar retiring executive Sid Banwart to Peoria County Administrator Patrick Urich dated August 21, Mr. Banwart writes, "It was a pleasure to meet with you last week to discuss how Caterpillar and Peoria County can work together as we build the Peoria Riverfront Museum and the Caterpillar Visitor Center.

Per our discussion, I want to underscore Caterpillar's commitment to this project. As we outlined, the Caterpillar Foundation has pledged a total of $13.5 million.
Here's the breakdown:
* $1 million Community challenge - paid in full
* $500,000 Government challenge - paid in full
* $5 million Employee and Retiree challenge---employees and retirees have .
pledged $4.2 million, so $800,000 remains as an available match
* $7 million Corae capital campaign - paid $3 million and $4 million is being
HELD (emphasis, mine) pending completion of project funding.

Our intent is to consume all the matching funds available, so if the remainging Employee and Retiree match isn't fully utilized by Caterpillar, we will make the balance available as a community match.

In addition to the CAt Foundation pledges, CAterpillar, Inc. has contributed $400,000efor the prep work and has committed to anoter $1.2 million for the construction of the parking ($9 million plus underground, my note) garage and the surrounding infrastructure. In total Caterpillar iNc. and the CAt Foundation are contributing more than $15 million to the development of the Peoria Riverfront Museum and parking garage.

Finally, our Aterpillar Visitor Center will bring our total committment to Build the Block to more than $52 million. As a company that honors its committments, we look forward to continued communications with the county as we work together to Build the Block."

This letter was distributed to all board members on September 10.

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