A historic renovation that transformed an 1893 building into a new home for Trefzger’s Bakery, a family-owned business dating back to 1861. This project expanded the bakery's space by 3x its original size, while only increasing costs by 1.5x. Additionally, the bakery reduced its operating costs by 50%, allowing the owners to scale their operations while also creating a passive income stream from additional tenant spaces. The project also created a new event center, helping the business diversify. This development became a community cornerstone, driving $35 million in ripple-effect development in the surrounding area in the 4 years after construction completion.

A historic adaptive reuse project in Peoria’s Warehouse District, Cooperage 214 repurposed an old cooperage (barrel-making factory) into a mixed-use development. The project features a commercial suite on the first floor and residential apartments on the second and third floors. The development achieved 100% lease-up within 45 days of completion, highlighting the demand for thoughtfully designed urban infill projects. Notably, the owners of this project managed the entire development process remotely—first from Poland and later from Japan—while Katie and her team facilitated the project locally. Cooperage 214 received the prestigious Richard H. Driehaus Award for Adaptive Reuse, further validating the success and impact of this redevelopment effort.

This project involved redeveloping an abandoned, blighted gas station site in Peoria Heights. The site, which had been neglected for years, was a brownfield location and required extensive environmental cleanup. The project was a Public-Private Partnership with the Village of Peoria Heights, which aimed to breathe new life into a highly visible, underutilized corner of the community. The result was a vibrant mixed-use development that now houses a restaurant, boutique, hair salon, and offices. It also features Peoria Heights’ first rooftop bar, making it a true landmark in the village's revitalization efforts.

The Block is located in downtown Peoria, this project involves transforming a long-vacant, blighted warehouse block into a dynamic mixed-use space. The development includes commercial spaces and an event center with indoor and outdoor space that serves as a catalyst for activating and revitalizing the downtown area. The Block was a project where Katie Kim worked with a hockey player, construction work who wanted to start his own construction company and ultimately his own development company.  Katie worked along side her client and taught them the process and prior to the end of the project there was a new construction company in town and new development company in the works of being created.  Through teaching the process, more people are developing in the Warehouse District which provides a rising tide to lift up all developments and the entire community.  This is definitely a win-win-win development project.

A transformative Public-Private Partnership with the Peoria Park District, Keller Station turned a 7-acre, abandoned campus into a thriving community hub. Originally donated to the Peoria Park District in 1996, the property had remained mostly vacant for decades. Under Katie’s leadership, the campus was redeveloped into a vibrant mixed-use destination with microsuites for entrepreneurs and small business owners, office suites, a food hall, coffee shop, retail spaces, and more. Keller Station hosts a range of community events, from Christmas markets - “Kringle at Keller Station” - to farmers markets, fostering engagement and economic growth in the area. The redevelopment also created a 90-year land lease agreement, turning a previously unused liability into a profitable asset for the Peoria Park District.