John Bays: Premier Building Adding Tenants, Looks Fantastic

JOLIET, IL — It's been 13 months since Joliet businessman John Bays purchased an empty 40,000-square-foot downtown Joliet building that many others did not view as a great investment opportunity. But around Joliet, Bays has been a wizard at turning obsolete and neglected commercial buildings into cash cows for his company, John Bays Investments.

Both the exterior and the interior of the Premier Building, at the corner of Jackson and Ottawa Streets overlooking the Jackson Street Bridge, look drastically different now that Bays' contractors have improved the property. Bays told Joliet Patch last week that he has sunk at least $1 million into property improvements of the former Premier Building since buying it last summer.

In recent days, Bays' crews have been renovating and painting one of the first-floor areas into a new professional office. A commercial business will be moving into the space in the next month or so, Bays revealed.

Bays told Joliet Patch the new tenant asked him not to disclose their identity until the move occurs. However, Bays said the incoming business will be bringing eight to a dozen permanent jobs to the Premier Building.

The new addition will mark the second business occupying Bays' Premier Building.

In recent months, Meade Electric Co. signed a short-term lease to house its equipment and vehicles in the back area of the Premier Building. Bays said that Meade Electric will probably remain on the property for another year or so.

Bays said he replaced all the windows, installed LED lighting and put in new heating and air-conditioning units throughout the two-story brick building. He also repaved the asphalt parking lot.

Bays said he plans to move his company to one of his two downtown properties currently under renovation: the Premier Building or the six-story Two Rialto Square Building that he acquired in December 2018. These days, Bays operates his investment company from Twin Oaks Place on West Jefferson Street.

"We're moving our headquarters downtown," Bays said. "Either this building or the Two Rialto Square."

Many people around the Joliet area forget that Bays' two biggest properties are outside the region. Bays owns the Crowne Plaza Chicago-Northbrook and also Tundra Lodge Resort and Conference Center in Green Bay, Wis., just down the street from Lambeau Field.

Amid the coronavirus, Bays' crews spent the past several months making multi-million dollar improvements to the Crowne Plaza and the Tundra Lodge. As a result, Bays has accumulated a surplus of chairs, paneling, carpet, bathroom fixtures, video arcade games, lamps and lights.

Luckily for him, Bays has ample storage space throughout the Premier Building. The advantage of relocating his company offices to the Premier Building would be that the site has plenty of parking. Bays Investments has 40 to 50 service vehicles, he estimated.

He is considering converting a portion of the building into dormitory-style apartment units that could be rented to college students attending the University of St. Francis or the downtown Joliet Junior College's culinary arts building.

"I'm just worried we're getting too much office space downtown," Bays told Joliet Patch last week.