Joliet's Stadium Club Building Destroyed By Storm

JOLIET, IL — During the past four years, the city of Joliet's economic development office has invested hundreds of staff hours in hopes of redeveloping the city-owned Stadium Club property next to the Joliet Slammers ballpark. Saturday afternoon's high winds knocked off the roof and blew out part of the walls.

On Tuesday, Power Alley, the small side street between East Jefferson and Clinton Streets remained closed because of all the building debris scattered across the road.

Given Joliet's rocky financial situation because of the new coronavirus health crisis, the city may not have the funds available to repair the building in hopes of finding a buyer, city officials acknowledged.

The city may have to tear it down.

"I've been told that internally the damage was pretty significant," Mayor Bob O'Dekirk told Joliet Patch's editor on Tuesday. "If someone wanted to save it, I'm sure we as a city would listen, but I don't know how possible that is."

Two years ago, the city of Joliet was on the verge of selling the Stadium Club property to Joliet insurance agent Jeff Thompson, who was active in Joliet Chamber of Commerce as well as one of the founders of Naperville's Ribfest and downtown Joliet's New Orleans North festival.

However, Thompson died of a heart attack, causing the sale to collapse, and the city to start over.

In recent months, the city's economic development staff was working with other prospective buyers in the hopes of creating a mixed use project at the three-story building adjacent to the Du Page Medical Group Field. The city envisioned retail space on the main floor and the upper levels being converted into loft apartments or condominiums.

An architectural rendering provided to Joliet Patch by city officials in 2017 called for the addition of a sandwich shop and also a coffee shop occupying space on the first floor.

Given Saturday's major storm damage, O'Dekirk doubts the city will find a buyer anytime soon. "The future of that is probably not very bright," the mayor said.

Interim city manager Steve Jones later told Joliet Patch that the city does have insurance on the Stadium Club property at 141 E. Jefferson St. as well as other city properties damaged by Saturday's storm. "We need to determine is this building salvageable or is it a demo? We don't know the answer at this point," Jones said Tuesday.

He said the city's fleet storage garage near Jackson and Chicago Street was also damaged as was the city's heating, air condition and ventilation unit on the roof of the Joliet Police Station.

Jones said the HVAC was literally picked up by Saturday's high winds and moved off its mounting. The city will have to decide in the coming days whether to submit one insurance claim for all of its damaged properties or whether to submit them one at a time.

No one was injured or killed in Joliet by Saturday's high winds that destroyed hundreds of mature trees across the city.

Joliet's Cathedral Area as well as parts of the downtown were among the hardest areas hit.

The Joliet Area Historical Museum reported several inches of heavy rain flooded its building on North Ottawa Street. O'Dekirk said his fifth floor law office across from the downtown post office sustained several inches of standing water from Saturday's storms as well.

"It was quite a storm," the mayor remarked Tuesday.

Joliet Public Works trucks were buzzing all over the city Tuesday working for a fourth consecutive day on storm damage cleanup. Late afternoon, Joliet Patch spotted two blue-colored Joliet public works dump trucks crossing paths at the busy intersection of Larkin Avenue and Black Road.

O'Dekirk praised crews from the city's Public Works Division as well as employees at Com-Ed for doing "a fantastic job" with removing downed power lines and restoring electricity to businesses and city residents who lost power Saturday.

Public works crews had a portion of Western Avenue closed to traffic in both directions on Tuesday afternoon as more of the damaged trees were being cut down and hauled away.

Related: Joliet Sustains Significant Tree Damage From Storm