Seeing potential in Marseilles’ Nabisco building

Investors from New York are looking at the former Nabisco building in Marseilles as a possible location for condominiums, storage and retail space.

Marseilles Mayor Jim Hollenbeck said he can envision it.

“It does have a terrific view,” Hollenbeck said of the building between the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Illinois River in the city’s downtown. “There’s a lot of potential there.”

The Marseilles Plan Commission did its part in recommending a zoning switch from manufacturing to residential/business for the facility.

Although plans are fluid, investors expressed an interest in buying and converting the top floors into two-to-three bedroom condos, a couple floors into storage and possibly other space into retail.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed it comes through,” Hollenbeck said. “The building is structurally sound. They don’t make them the way they used to.”

The building, which dates its architecture to the 1920s, is located within a tax increment financing district. Within these designated areas, property tax rates are frozen and any increment paid beyond that point goes into an account specifically designed for improvements within that area.

Hollenbeck said the city of Marseilles could work out a deal to reimburse investors from the TIF fund for improvements, and he also said the building is located in an enterprise zone, which provides tax benefits.

“We’ve had success with our TIF districts on Broadway,” Hollenbeck said. “There’s opportunity there for growth.”

The Nabisco building is located close to Marseilles’ downtown, as well as other attractions such as Illini State Park across the Illinois River, the canal and the Middle East Conflicts Wall.

In its golden days, the paper plant employed hundreds of residents.