John Bays Brings Another Company To Downtown Joliet

JOLIET, IL - As downtown Joliet's resurgence continues, the once vacant third floor of the First Midwest Bank Building in downtown Joliet has sprung back to life after several months of extensive renovations. John Bays, one of the city's most prominent commercial investors, attracted Barrister Investigations to move into the third floor of the First Midwest Bank.

The three-story office building at 212 North Chicago St. is across the street from Joliet Junior College's six-story culinary arts building that opened last year. (The first two floors of First Midwest are still used by the bank.)

On Tuesday morning, Joliet Patch stopped by and met with representatives of Barrister Investigations, a family-owned Joliet business that was previously leasing space office at one of the other Bays Investment properties on Joliet's west side, near Larkin Avenue and Black Road.

Bob Cochran is chief executive officer and chairman of Barrister Investigations & Filing Service "This is our 40th year in business. It was started by my mom and dad," he told Patch.

In fact, Cochran's mother also has an office at the new location, and she remains an integral part of the company she helped found.

Cochran told Joliet Patch the building renovations began in May and took several months to complete. Barrister Investigations officially relocated downtown in October, he said. The company is occupying nearly 10,000-square-feet of space in its new location.

So why did Barrister Investigations opt to leave Joliet's west side to move into the heart of the downtown?

The answer is simple, he said.

"It's the new courthouse," Cochran said, referring to the $215 million, 10-story building that is nearly halfway done and will open in 2020.

As of now, Barrister Investigations has about 35 employees working inside its newly renovated third-floor First Midwest Bank office while another 40 employees are out in the field, serving legal papers. The firm processes court filings, E-filings for lawyers, background searches, skip tracing and case management, among other things.

"Our goal is to service all the lawyers that are in the area," Cochran said.

So what does Cochran think about finally being downtown in his new office space?

"I love it," he smiled. "I wanted to get downtown to be in more of an urban setting and (by) the new courthouse."

Cochran told Patch he anticipates more professional law firms across Will County will start to open up offices in downtown over the coming year, similar to how Joliet criminal defense attorney Jeff Tomczak bought the old Liebermann's Jewelers building on North Ottawa Street and moved his law firm there this fall.

To learn more about the company, visit the website for Barrister Investigations.

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Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor