Construction at the CII East building stopped so long ago you may not remember what it used to look like: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/15772470/102-S-East-Street-Bloomington-IL/
This is what it looks like now:
Close up pic from last summer:
The owner, David Bentley, was a Renner lunch buddy before Tari got his PCard yanked. Bentley also sued the City over not getting enough TIF money.
Evidently that means it’s okay to devalue downtown with ugly.
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I notice this every time I drive past. It’s been a long time.
Is the building empty?
I have a hard time believing Tari went cold turkey. I wonder if the expense is submitted as something else.
The degeneration of Downtown began not long after Eastland Mall opened. Since that time the City Government has been grossly negligent in requiring property owners to maintain their properties. Many of the problems facing the City Council have been inherited. However that is a poor excuse. The time is long overdo for the City Manager and the City Council to cut the B.S. and go to work. Standing room only at Council meetings would send a message.
Oh WOW – Very interesting since the Bloomington board is spending time and tax money to “improve downtown Bloomington” with their proposals and changing the zoning, etc
At the same time, I don’t want the Bloomington board’s solution to be using our tax money to buy this building – and then we own another empty building to maintain. (I was watching to see if the Bloomington board was going to buy the old State Farm building. Actually I guess Bloomington could still buy the old State Farm building because I have not heard that sale is finalized.)
IF this was an apartment, the “inspectors” would be ALL OVER it! FUNNY, Tari don’t take someone to lunch anymore, so he looses a friend. WHAT kind of “friends” does Tari have?? Sounds like play ground drama..
” Sounds like play ground drama..” If you know David Bentley, that is FAR funnier than you have any idea!
David Bentley has several buildings with shabby (to say the least) offices/floors in Downtown that continue to fall into disrepair. He wants unjustifiable rent and is not actively interested in rehabbing or pursuing tenants so far as I can tell. I’m not sure if he’s pie-in-the-sky, speculating, or waiting for King Tari to cut him a taxpayer-backed check. Probably a combination of all three. You know, it amazes me how the Downtown crowd gets so mad at those of us that don’t shop there or who dare criticize the City for funding Downtown events/amenities/funding, yet these same folks won’t put up their money where their mouth is to help the cause.
That’s the truth BN DESERVES BETTER!! I can think of only ONE person who has BOUGHT and REHABBED downtown properties, and he don’t have much use for the “rest of the crowd”.. AND he did it WITHOUT taking city monies…
I started my career on the top floor of that building back in the day. My office was the second window from the left. The view was awesome. It was a fine clean building.
I have no idea why it was gutted to such an extreme. A real shame.
I was really surprised to hear someone bought the old State Farm downtown building. The rumors floating around were that they uncovered major issues with its foundation while they were in the process of remodeling and updating the interior. The foundation issue was so severe it would require digging up half of main street to properly repair it. I wonder if the prospective buyer is aware of the problem?
The deal isn’t final yet, it could fall through especially if nobody wants the rent space.