The Will County executive’s office and the city of Joliet have announced plans to partner and build a government campus on the site of the former Will County Courthouse, which is slated for demolition this fall.
The action comes as preservationists, residents, architects, developers and some county board members are still interested in saving and redeveloping the vacant courthouse.
County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant and Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy said in a statement Monday they support a consolidated government campus that would house offices for both Will County and the city of Joliet on the former courthouse property, 14 W. Jefferson St., in downtown Joliet. Both the county and city have outgrown their existing space, they said.
The county’s main offices are located in a former department store built in 1947 at 302 N. Chicago St., Joliet. The county took over the property in the 1980s when its population was about 300,000 residents. It has since grown to nearly 700,000 residents and is projected to continue to grow to reach more than 887,000 in 2050, officials said.
The county office building is already at capacity with several Will County offices, such as the Workforce Services Division, Workforce Investment Board, Veterans Assistance Commission, Land Use Department, public defender and the Regional Office of Education leasing space throughout Joliet at a cost of more than $1 million a year, said Mike Theodore, spokesman for the county’s executive office.
“I look forward to continued conversations between county and city officials about the great potential of this property,” Bertino-Tarrant said in a statement. “Both of our governments have clearly outgrown our existing space. Maintaining an open dialogue will ensure that we identify the best option for our residents.”
Joliet City Hall is at 150 W. Jefferson St. and was built in 1968, when the population was 75,000 residents. The population has since doubled, could reach about 200,000 residents, and City Hall has no additional capacity for city staff, D’Arcy said. The city is also leasing space throughout Joliet.
D’Arcy, who took office May 1, said the city is in “very very preliminary discussions” with county officials, and there are a lot of unknowns about the project.
D’Arcy said he does not agree with historical landmark status on the former courthouse and it is up to the county to decide what to do with it.
The Will County Board approved demolishing the former courthouse in 2019, and it has sat vacant since late 2020 when the new courthouse opened down the street.
County and Joliet officials are in preliminary conversations about the total cost of building and how the costs will be split, Theodore said.
County Board member Steve Balich, the board’s Republican Leader, supports demolishing the former courthouse, noting the county board spent months examining what repairs would be needed to renovate the building. The courthouse is in deplorable shape and renovations would be very costly and expansive, he said.
The board would have to approve plans for a new building, and there are too many unanswered questions, he said.
“Do we really need it?” Balich, of Homer Glen, said. “The county needs to show me they’ve exhausted other options.”
Balich said county officials need to demonstrate it needs more office space, and whether an addition to the existing county building would be viable. He said he’s not comfortable with the costs of a new building and issuing bonds to pay for it. He also questioned whether all Will County residents should be paying for a portion of a building that Joliet city government uses.
“It’s way too costly to build right now,” Balich said. “Before I’d be jumping on board, I’d need to know a lot of other stuff.”
Jackie Traynere, the board’s Democrat Leader, supports preserving the former courthouse and also has several questions regarding a potential partnership with Joliet on a government campus.
“I didn’t see the talk about who is paying for this,” Traynere, of Bolingbrook, said.
Traynere said the new courthouse building cost about $215 million, and a new office complex would be very expensive. The county has far more pressing needs, such as repairing roads, addressing the opioid crisis and dealing with high property taxes, she said.
Board member Dan Butler, a Republican from Frankfort, said he believes the more fiscally responsible solution is to redevelop the former courthouse. A county and city campus could exist in a rehabbed courthouse, which could be cheaper than tearing down and building new, he said.
“From a fiscally responsible perspective, it makes more sense to rehab it,” he said. “I don’t want to spend more money than we have and more money than we have to.”
Butler said it would be a huge undertaking to tear down the concrete Brutalist-style courthouse. Once the county tears it down, it eliminates any option of rehabbing it, he said.
“Why can’t we reuse that building,” Butler said. “Money is tight for a lot of people. Inflation is high. It’s completely reusable.”
Butler said the push to preserve the courthouse has bipartisan support.
“I think there has to be significant outcry from the public sector to make a change,” Butler said.
The Joliet Historic Preservation Commission will hear Wednesday from developers who are interested in repurposing the courthouse. Earlier this year, Landmarks Illinois, a historic preservation group, asked developers and architectural firms to come up with ideas to preserve or repurpose the courthouse.
The Courthouse Preservation Partnership has asked the historic commission to consider whether to designate the 1969 building a local historic landmark. The historic commission has the option to make a recommendation on landmark status to the Joliet City Council, which has the final say, or continue the public hearing for another month.
Courthouse Preservation Partnership submitted its application for landmark designation April 14, which triggered a Joliet ordinance that says no demolition permit can be issued for up to 180 days. Delays on demolition can be prolonged into October.
Quinn Adamowski, regional advocacy manager for Landmarks Illinois and a member of the Joliet Historic Preservation Commission, said he believes there should be a robust debate about the property and is glad that public plans about a potential Will County and Joliet joint complex have been released to give residents more information about what could be built and how much it could cost taxpayers.
An office complex, similar to the one city and county officials are talking about, could be built on other sites, including a parking lot just east of the former courthouse, while still preserving the courthouse for redevelopment, Adamowski said.
“The citizens of Will County and especially the citizens of Joliet should have a say,” he said.
Landmark status would also allow developers to use significant federal and state tax incentives to fund redevelopment.
Joliet was recently designated a member of the state’s River Edge Redevelopment Zone, which can offer tax incentives to investors interested in reviving and developing properties adjacent to rivers in Illinois.
Utilizing tax credits and private investments is much cheaper than tearing down an old building, said Hudson Hollister of Courthouse Preservation Partnership.
“There’s a potential to bring $70 million in private sector investment to redevelop,” he said. “Why would we say no to that?”
The Joliet Historic Preservation Commission meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Joliet City Hall.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter.