John Bays Bringing Life Back To Old Tezak's Funeral Home In Joliet's Downtown: Photos

JOLIET, IL —Joliet's most prolific commercial real estate investor, John Bays of Bays Investments, is not slowing down or spending his winter months sipping on margaritas, listening to Jimmy Buffett songs on a sunny beach in Florida. He's busy in downtown Joliet, tackling his next project. He recently bought the former Tezak's Funeral Home building at 459 N. Ottawa St., not far from St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

The brick building was built in 1971 and encompasses 12,000 square feet.

For decades, the Tezak's Funeral Home was one of downtown Joliet's busiest businesses, until Tezak's left the downtown and built its new funeral home at 1211 Plainfield Road. Bays said that the tiny Glory Tabernacle Church has owned the old funeral home property for nearly 20 years, but the congregation has only had 15 to 20 members.

Bays acquired the old Tezak's Funeral Home during the past month and since then, his crews at Bays Investments have been working nonstop, upgrading the building and the property lot. A large parking lot behind the building has been cleared of overgrown trees and vegetation.

The back of the property abuts the Des Plaines River canal wall and includes 50 parking spots, Bays said.

On Tuesday, Bays had his crews power-washing the building.

"And we're replacing the heating and air-conditioning," Bays remarked. "I'm going to try to make it all retail. Five different retail businesses. I'm going to replace all the doors and the roof."

Joliet Patch asked how long it would take before the old Tezak's Funeral Home is ready for retail tenants to occupy the space.

"Approximately three to four months," Bays answered.

Bays: "I Don't Want To Show It Until The Outside Is Done"

Bays furnished Joliet Patch with the graphic illustration showing how the building will look when his crews are finished. "It is going to look like what that picture shows," Bays pointed out.

Bays said he did not want to reveal what retail businesses he's trying to attract until he gets further along with his remodeling of both the interior and exterior.

"I don't want to show it until the outside is done," Bays explained. "This is just helping the city making downtown much more vibrant. I just have to come up with a name. I am 100 percent sure I am not calling it Bays District.

"When I am done with this thing, John, you come in here and you're going to be impressed," Bays promised. "Because the inside can be adapted into something real nice."

As for his 13-story Bays Tower, about two blocks away, Bays said he now has 117 of his 140 apartment units leased at the former Joliet Housing Authority's John Murphy Building. Bays began moving in his first tenants last June. There is now a Jitters Coffeehouse that just opened on the ground floor of Bays Tower.

"My customer satisfaction scores are extremely high in that building," Bays proclaimed.