By rssfeeds-admin Iconic Energy is a Rockford-based solar company. Its president, Teague Dickey, said he has poured millions of dollars into renovating the historic building, but said a change in federal policy left him no choice but to protect his company’s future.
“It hurts me very much to have to let go,” Dickey said of the former Register Star news building. “I love the building, love the location, love Rockford.”
Dickey said he hoped to use the building as a new headquarters for his business, which is currently housed at 4617 American Road.
He said the recent passing of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” eliminated federal tax rebates for solar panel installation, changing Iconic Energy’s outlook for the future.
“When you eliminate that, that’s going to make the return on investment much longer. It is going to make things really tough,” he said. “So to protect my employees, protect our customers, to make sure I can follow through with the commitments that I gave them, I need to let go of something I love very much, like that iconic building.”
Along with the work stoppage at the Colman Yards project and the delay in construction at Davis Park, the sale of the Iconic Energy building creates another murky development situation in the city of Rockford.
Ald. Mark Bonne (D) said City Council is frustrated with the recent developments, but remains optimistic someone will buy the property.
“This is really the result of drastic changes at the federal government level, affecting this, that are going to affect this project,” Bonne said. “So I would think and hope that somebody else steps forward and does something creative with that property, because it’s also on the riverfront. I mean, it’s on the river. I mean, there’s so much potential there.”
Dickey said that potential is why he bought the building, and he wants to make sure future owners honor that commitment.
“I’m also going to vet any potential buyers very much because I care about what happens to our town. If somebody wants to come in and turn into something that I don’t feel is going to positively, positively impact our community, I won’t sell it to them for any amount of money,” he said.
Bonne added that he would be in support of using taxpayer funds to help a new developer move into the building.
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