'Joliet's Been Thriving,' Mayor O'Dekirk Tells JJC

JOLIET, IL -At least 200 Joliet Junior College students and faculty gathered Thursday afternoon to hear Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk give his annual State of the City address. The mayor's speech and question and answer session lasted an hour, but can be summed up in a few short words. "Joliet's been thriving," O'Dekirk told everyone.

In 2017, Joliet had 221 residential building permits, 23 commercial permits, eight industrial permits and nearly 5,500 building-related permits overall. The growth will add about $272 million in new property value to Joliet, the state's third largest city, the mayor said.

"Those are great numbers," O'Dekirk told everyone.

Infrastructure improvements remain a high priority, O'Dekirk said. Joliet spent about $13 million for sewer and water main upgrades last year. "It's an investment we need to make in our city," O'Dekirk said.

At present, Joliet is on solid financial footing, the mayor said.

City Hall has around $53 million in its reserve funds. "It's a very healthy reserve fund. (But) we don't want to draw from reserves to pay the bills," he stressed.

Overall, property values are on the rise in Joliet, increasing about 12 percent during the past two years. "It's a great number," O'Dekirk said. "Our city is back. It's doing well. It's moving forward."

Downtown, a construction crane with a large wrecking ball is knocking down the old First Midwest Bank property to make way for the new Will County Courthouse.

O'Dekirk told the crowd at JJC that some politicians had contemplated relocating the courthouse out east, near Interstate 355.

In the end, Will County government officials decided to build the new $215 million courthouse in downtown Joliet, across from Joliet's City Hall. It will open in two years.

"I think it would have been a head shot for downtown if we had lost the courthouse," O'Dekirk remarked. "I'm very excited about our partnership with Will County government."

Also vital to downtown Joliet, the mayor said, is that the South Chicago Street reconfiguration project is finally materializing. The project involves rerouting traffic coming from Interstate 80. The courthouse parking lot near the train viaduct at Washington Street will be going away.

The project involves expanding the City Center Square across from the historic Rialto Square Theatre.

As for the Rialto, one year ago, the mayor pointed out, the Rialto "had a very bleak" future." Nowadays, it's under a new leadership board and VenuWorks management team. On Thursday night, the Rialto was set to welcome REO Speedwagon for a sold-out concert. Other big upcoming acts within the coming month include Manhattan Transfer, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Nelson Remembered: starring Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, Buddy Guy and Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo.

"The Rialto theater is back. It's thriving. I'm glad to see it back," O'Dekirk said.

Since last fall, the mayor noted, downtown has opened the MyGrain Brewing Company at the historic Union Station while Elder Brewing Company has opened on Cass Street. Additionally, The Forge has been a tremendous draw for live music acts.

Since it opened last spring inside the Bays Professional Center at Cass and Chicago, The Forge has booked more than 165 shows, the mayor said.

People have called the downtown economic development a "renaissance," O'Dekirk said, declaring, "I believe the renaissance is happening as we speak."

In the coming weeks, crews will finish installing field turf at the Joliet Slammers baseball park, recently renamed as Route 66 Joliet Stadium. Joliet wants to utilize the sports facility for more year-round events including community festivals, concerts and corporate outings, as well as other sporting tournaments.

"This isn't San Diego," O'Dekirk reminded everyone. "We don't have nice weather all year round ... but (the stadium) was being under-utilized. This is a beautiful stadium. It is an economic driver. It does bring people into downtown. It was a big move by the Joliet City Council to install the turf."

Another gutsy move by the city council, the mayor said, concerned the recent five-year lease agreement with the Illinois Department of Corrections at the long-abandoned old Joliet Prison. In the aftermath of that, the mayor broke a tie vote on the city council to let Evil Intentions, an award-winning haunted house based in Elgin, convert the old women's prison building into a haunted attraction set to open this fall.

Since then, movie production crews, developers and real-estate brokers out of Chicago continue to phone City Hall in hopes of getting a slice of the action at the rest of the massive limestone fortress along Collins Street, the mayor said.

"That's a hot piece of property," O'Dekirk told JJC. "It's really been exciting to see how it's going. It was a bold step (by the city council) to sign that lease."

Unrelated, Joliet has "two pretty high profile" developments in the works, the mayor hinted. He said that one project is on the city's east side while the other is on the west side.

"So the good news is going to continue for our city in 2018," O'Dekirk vowed.

RELATED: O'Dekirk Has $146,000 Re-Election War Chest

RELATED: Part Of Joliet Prison Will Become Evil Intentions

Images via John Ferak, Joliet Patch Editor