Money lined up for cleanup

KANKAKEE – The potential restoration of a vacant property at 217 E. Court St., the former Jaffe Drugs building in downtown Kankakee, got a boost when the money needed was earmarked for part of the cleanup of the property.

At Tuesday’s Kankakee Regional Land Bank Authority monthly meeting, it was reported that the city of Kankakee came up with a formula to pay the $62,700 cleanup cost of the pharmaceuticals in the abandoned building.

The cleanup will be completed by Midwest Environmental Consulting Services Inc. of Chicago.

“We’ve got quite a few things going on here with this property,” said the Rev. Montele Crawford, executive director of the Kankakee Regional Land Bank.

Crawford said board member Barbi Brewer-Watson worked with city administration to line up the money needed for the cleanup. The Land Bank closed on the property at the end of December with the goal of putting the Jaffe building back on the tax rolls.

“The city is going to be working on covering that $62,700,” Brewer-Watson said.

The Kankakee Development Corp. has kicked in $10,000. There is another $15,000 from a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, $25,000 from the downtown tax increment financing district, and the city of Kankakee is going to kick in the remaining $12,700 from its general fund.

The funds from the city will be voted on at its March 3 Kankakee City Council meeting.

“Then we will get moving as quickly as possible after that March 3 date,” Brewer-Watson said. “In the meanwhile, I asked for the contract for the drug cleanup so that we could get it over to legal now for them to review in case there are any changes. We can wrap that up before March 3, so that way the mayor can sign it right away.”

Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis, who was at the Land Bank meeting, said he’s excited about the potential of the former Jaffe building.

“I think there’s a lot of interest with everything that’s happening downtown,” Curtis said. “I think there could be several people that could retrofit that into a pretty cool space with the historical aspect to it.”

Curtis laughed that it could be turned back into an old malt shop.

“We’re excited, and for us right now it’s just getting that sidewalk back open,” he said. “It’s just so blatantly obvious that we’ve got a deferred building there. It’s a long time coming.”

Curtis added that the city wants the barricade on the sidewalk removed once the cleanup is completed. Brewer-Watson said the cleanup of the pharmaceuticals can be completed in one day, according to Midwest Environmental.

“I’m hoping that somebody would start renovation on it this summer, maybe after the Fourth of July,” Curtis said.”That’s probably an aggressive timeline, but that would be something nice to think about. Realistically, though, it’s probably a 2026 project.”

Board member Matt Olszewski suggested that the Land Bank reach out to some local contractors to see if the facade is in good enough shape to remove the barricade or how much it will cost to ensure no bricks will fall to the sidewalk.

“If we get that done, the more interest [the building] will generate,” board member Joseph Nugent said. “... It only makes sense to try to figure out that kind of thing. It’s good for getting that property quicker to the market.”

Crawford also reported that the electricity still is on at the property, but gas and water services have been turned off.