PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — There’s more information about Wednesday’s announcement from the KDB Group.
The company, owned by Kim Blickenstaff, announced it will be re-evaluating its operations in the Peoria area.
WMBD-TV has reached out to Peoria and Peoria Heights city leaders, the KDB Group, and properties that may be impacted by the announcement and there are still a lot more questions than answers.
According to a release received on Wednesday, the KDB Group said their decision will impact operations at the Scottish Rite Theatre in Peoria and the Betty Jayne Brimmer Center for the Performing Arts in Peoria Heights.
Thursday, WMBD-TV stopped by the Betty Jayne Center but there was no one there at the time. An employee at the Scottish Rite Theatre said that they have no comment on the situation, but the executive director of performing arts Jenny Parkhurst confirmed no events are scheduled at both venues beyond January 14th.
The Peoria Symphony Orchestra, who last played at the Scottish Rite Theatre on December 10th, wrote a statement on the KDB Group’s announcement.
“We did not have any upcoming concerts on the docket with the Scottish Rite. We’re deeply saddened by the news of the closing of both the Betty Jayne Brimmer Center for Performing Arts and the Scottish Rite Theater,” said Anthony Marotta, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra’s executive director.
WMBD-TV has attempted to contact Blickenstaff, who is also the chairman of the board of directors at the company Tandem Diabetes Care whose stock price has nosedived over the past year. A year ago, Tandem’s stock was at $136 dollars and as of Wednesday, it was $46 dollars a share, a 66% decrease.
Multiple web sources indicate that Blickenstaff is a major stockholder but we’re still working to determine whether or not the drop in the stock price is somehow related to KDB’s decision to pull out of local projects.
