Joliet parking deck: pros and cons

The first controversial vote of the new Joliet City Council came Tuesday, and the council did not show the unity some may want.

But that’s not a bad thing.

John Bays probably would have liked a unanimous vote in favor of his acquisition of the Scott Street parking deck. But there were reasons to be both for and against it, which was reflected in the 5-3 vote for it.

The obvious issue with the selling of the city-owned deck to Bays, a private developer with substantial investments and property holdings downtown, is that the city never sought bids, which was pointed out at the meeting.

The city also never got an appraisal on the property, contending it could not get an appraiser because the 340-space deck was considered worthless.

That sounds unlikely. But the deck does need about $1 million worth of work, which the city has not taken on since the cost of repairs was estimated at $915,000 in 2015. The deck does not generate enough money to pay for repairs.

The city typically has not sought bids when it looked for new owners to redevelop deteriorating city-owned property downtown. But it does put out a request for proposals, giving the city leeway to reject buyers that don’t appear to have the wherewithal to redevelop.

This process has been used repeatedly for the former Crabigale’s building downtown and the Stadium Club building outside of DuPage Medical Group Field. Potential developers have been chosen, but plans have always fallen through. And, no one ever was willing to buy the buildings. The arrangement always was to turn over the buildings to the developer once a certain level of improvements were made.

Whether Joliet could have gotten a better price than the $151,000 Bays is paying for the Scott Street deck, we won’t know because the city never sought bids. City attorneys point to a Joliet ordinance exempting the city from the bid process for sales of its own property

One thing we can be pretty sure of is that Bays plans for the parking deck will not fall through.

Bays has a proven track record at his other downtown properties and wants the deck to provide free parking for tenants. So, he is motivated to fix up the deck.

City staff has said Joliet has enough downtown parking without owning the deck. And Bays is not taking away spaces, although he will give them to that segment of the downtown crowd that rents from him.

He is required to maintain at least 50 spaces for public use at the city rate, which is $1 an hour at the Scott and Ottawa Street decks.

A dollar an hour is not a lot, but most people would rather have free parking. Bays will be able to give his tenants what they want.