Will County and Joliet officials should look northwest to the city of Rockford, which took historic, boarded up and abandoned buildings and revitalized them into thriving regional destinations, according to developers interested in transforming the vacant Will County courthouse into a centerpiece for downtown Joliet.
In Rockford’s case, developers took advantage of tax incentives to convert buildings that had been abandoned for decades into banquet centers, riverfront and upscale restaurants, breweries, wood fire pizzerias and new housing, said architect Gary Anderson of Studio GWA.
In one instance, Rockford officials wanted to spend $3 million to tear down the vacant Amerock factory, which they called the “ugliest building,” before citizens and business owners convinced the City Council to explore other possibilities. The building was renovated into the Embassy Suites hotel and convention center and has become a popular venue, Anderson said.
“These are people spaces,” Anderson said. “We are not just talking about renovating a building. “We are talking about places in which people can live, work and play.”
Anderson said the developments were building blocks for revitalizing the downtown.
“All of these projects have all been catalysts for the next project,” he said.
Likewise, there has been support for repurposing the former Will County Courthouse, which some people have dubbed the “World’s Ugliest Courthouse.”
Developers, preservationists, Will County residents and some County Board members offered their support Wednesday to the Joliet Historic Preservation Commission, which continued until July its discussion on whether to recommend landmark status for the building, which was used from 1969 to 2020 and has since sat vacant.
County officials plan to demolish the Brutalist-style concrete courthouse at, 14 W. Jefferson St., this fall.
Earlier this week, County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant and Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy said they would like to build a joint Will County and city of Joliet government complex on that property. The cost of the complex is still to be determined.
The Joliet City Council has the final say over landmark status. D’Arcy said earlier this week he does not support landmark status, and it is up to the county to decide what to do with its building.
The County Board voted in 2019 to demolish it, but there has been a lot of turnover since then, and preserving the courthouse now has bipartisan support, said board member Dan Butler, a Frankfort Republican.
“The current conditions here in Will County around the courthouse are not atypical,” said Ron Clewer, Illinois and Indiana market president with Gorman and Company, a national developer that also concentrates in historic, adaptive reuse projects. “As a society we tend to look at buildings as disposable and we think that the best thing that could be done is tear down and rebuild.”
Clewer said if a community collectively agrees it’s worth saving, there will be a significant number developers interested in working to build out the area. The courthouse could be renovated into housing, a hotel or office space for the county, he said.
“It’s not just about restoring the building,” he said. “It’s also about creating a sense of place and creating experiences that people cannot have anywhere else.”
It could take about $60 million to renovate the courthouse into a new county office building, and they could take advantage of federal and state tax credits, Clewer said.
“When we talk about spending public money and investing in your downtown to create new opportunities, I think that is the real public benefit,” he said. “The decisions about making this a landmark property will create opportunities for you to redevelop the rest of your downtown.”
Sharon Merwin, a historic preservation commission member, said while Joliet is the county seat, the issue affects all Will County residents.
Naperville Preservation Inc. supports saving the courthouse, said Jane Burke, the group’s vice president.
County Board members, including Democrats Janet Diaz of Joliet and Sherry Williams of Crest Hill, also spoke in favor of preservation.
“There’s so much potential, and we need to think about the potential” Diaz said. “Why would we not save our taxpayers money?”
Preservationists said the county and city can either convert the courthouse into a new government campus or build that joint campus on a different site in Joliet while renovating the courthouse into something that would be complementary, such as a conference center and a rooftop restaurant.
Some Joliet residents said the courthouse should stay as it is, the soul of the community.
“The city’s past is reflected in its architectural history,” said Victor Judd, of Joliet. “As we look back it really doesn’t matter whether the building is viewed as ugly or not. But … the 1969 courthouse reflects the values of Joliet in the mid-60s. Preserving the vision of the citizens of the mid-60s is just as important as preserving the vision of the people who built the Rialto (Theatre) in the ’20s and the old prison 150 years ago.”
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.