The Kensington looks to be 7 stories, .44 acres; that gives it about 134,000 sq ft. There are 171 1-bed, 1-bath units, (and apparently 2-bed units) so ~800 sq ft per apartment. Its total property tax bill is $82,000, or about $480 per apartment, or about $1.60 per sq ft. (That's a little odd, since apartments.com shows a "similar rentals nearby" 1-bed, 1-bath apartment as $450 per mo. (But it's 250 sq ft. (OTOH, The Kensington is unlikely to be entirely devoted to apartments. YMMV.)) In comparison, the author's property (.18 ac, $1693.14 per year) is about 22¢ per sq ft.
So here's my question for the author: Would you be willing to live in an 800 sq ft apartment paying 7 times more property taxes, per sq ft, or roughly 1/4 total?
(Oh, by the way, The Kensington is an assisted living facility, meaning that the residents are likely paying somewhat more than $480 per month (or at least Medicare is), which is likely why they can afford $82,000 per year in property taxes rather the Kensington being an empty building. (Trying to fill downtown with assisted living facilities is an exercise for the reader.)
"You could build 3 of these 18 foot wide houses and people would want to live in them and they’d be profitable for the city per the infrastructure needed."
So here's my question for the author: Would you be willing to live in an 800 sq ft apartment paying 7 times more property taxes, per sq ft, or roughly 1/4 total?
(Oh, by the way, The Kensington is an assisted living facility, meaning that the residents are likely paying somewhat more than $480 per month (or at least Medicare is), which is likely why they can afford $82,000 per year in property taxes rather the Kensington being an empty building. (Trying to fill downtown with assisted living facilities is an exercise for the reader.)
"You could build 3 of these 18 foot wide houses and people would want to live in them and they’d be profitable for the city per the infrastructure needed."
Here's a collection of 18 foot wide house plans: https://houseplans.co/house-plans/search/results/?q=&am=&ax=...
And here's realtor.com on Galesburg: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Galesburg_...
* https://www.apartments.com/the-kensington-galesburg-il/qyk39...
* https://thekensington.net/index.htm