By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – One building in a proposed re-development of downtown Bloomington might be salvaged, but one advocate for the project said there’s one building that has to go.
Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council CEO Kyle Ham told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the dilapidated Front ‘N’ Center building has little value to him. He said trying to save it could kill any re-development.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Ham on WJBC.
“That ultimately would make the project un-doable,” Ham said. ” Everything has a history to it, it’s just a matter of what does the history look like in the future. The building has been sitting there like that for a long time.”
Mayor Tari Renner has suggested there are some who have told him the Front ‘N’ Center building should be saved. The owner has agreed to repair some broken windows in the building.
A proposal developer Jeff Giebelhausen has submitted to re-do an entire block of downtown gives the city an option to renovate the Commerce Bank building rather than tearing it down.
Ham said it’s a cut-and-dry deal as the developer plans to work with the property owners and absorb all demolition and clean-up costs to make the site shovel ready.
“That’s what I believe is the sweet spot of the deal. The city doesn’t have to take on that risk,” Ham said.
Ham said he’d like to see the city vote on the plan within the next three to six weeks. He said he doesn’t want this to drag on through the summer.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
