Business

Antioch’s Sequoit Creek Park named among Illinois’ top infrastructure projects

Posted February 25, 2026 9:31 am

Mick Zawislak

Buried for 50 years, the uncovered and restored Sequoit Creek is the focus of Sequoit Creek Park in downtown Antioch. The park project won a top award from the American Council of Engineering Companies. Courtesy of Janelle Rominski

Visitors who have enjoyed Antioch's $12.5 million Sequoit Creek Park the past year and a half may not know how it was transformed from a blighted property into a centerpiece.

However, the American Council of Engineering Companies of Illinois does and recognized the project for its innovation, complexity and design with a top statewide award.

Strand Associates Inc., a multistate firm with an office in Joliet, last week won the council’s Lincoln Grand Conceptor Award for the redevelopment of the 3.3-acre site at Main (Route 83) and Orchard streets.

Strand coordinated the work of several consultants into a single, cohesive set of bid documents, managed the bidding and contract process and provided construction administration and observation through completion of what is described as a milestone project.

Sequoit Creek also was one of eight engineering projects recognized across the state and received an Honor Award for special projects.

The Italian-made performance space pavilion is among the amenities at Sequoit Creek Park in downtown Antioch. Courtesy of village of Antioch

A splash pad, accessible playground, public performance pavilion, firepits, overlooks, a stone footbridge over the creek that connects the concession area with an Italian gazebo and concert seating area, bathrooms and walkways are among the features focused on the restored creek.

Sequoit Creek had been channeled into a culvert to make way for commercial development on the site and hidden below ground for 50 years.

Sequoit Creek in downtown Antioch was directed through a culvert and buried about 50 years ago. It was exposed and made a focal point of the award winning Sequoit Creek Park. Courtesy of village of Antioch, 2022

The culvert began to fail in 2016 and collapsed in 2019, impairing the creek flow and creating flooding hazards. In 2020, a comprehensive plan aimed to create Sequoit Creek Park as part of a broader downtown initiative led by The Lakota Group of Chicago.

An inclusive playground is among the features at Sequoit Creek Park in downtown Antioch. The park project recently won a top award in a statewide competition. Courtesy of Janelle Rominski

Friday, in his weekly report to the community, Mayor Scott Gartner said the awards event included more than 600 engineers and some of the largest firms in the country.

He said Antioch was competing against major statewide and infrastructure improvements as well as large highway improvements and came out on top.

“That puts Antioch on a much larger stage,” he wrote.

Recognition belongs to current and former village staff as well as Strand, Lakota, Boller Construction and many others, he added.

“We set the bar high on this project and we need to keep it there on everything we do,” he wrote. Plaques from other organizations for landscape design and construction at Sequoit Creek Park will be displayed in the park or at village hall.

Other award winners included CivilTech Engineering Inc., for innovative use of materials for Washington Street bridge and downtown streetscape improvements in Naperville; and, Benesch for public engagement involving the Hunt Club Road and Stearns School Road intersection for the Lake County Division of Transportation.

Gartner also noted the village’s receipt of a federal grant of about $581,000 toward the downtown beautification and accessibility project, which is in the planning phase.

“This project is about more than making things look better — although it absolutely will,” he wrote. “A downtown that is accessible to everyone is a downtown that thrives.”