More Empty Buildings, Lots Along Jefferson Street

JOLIET, IL — It has not happened overnight, but one of Joliet's busiest roads, West Jefferson Street, has fallen into a state of decline and things appear to be getting worse, not better. More businesses that close are staying empty. Buildings that were supposed to be demolished, such as the long-shuttered Senor Tequila Mexican Restaurant, continue to decay.

Basinger's Pharmacy in the Marycrest Shopping Plaza owns the Senor Tequila property and got a liquor license from the city of Joliet in March 2017 to build a new pharmacy and liquor store at the Senor Tequila site, 2219 W. Jefferson St.

That was three years ago, but the property remains an eyesore.

On Thursday, the empty Senor Tequila property had a red tag in its front window from the city of Joliet's Neighborhood Services Division — from October 2019 — for allowing a public nuisance and having tall grass and weeds on the property. On Thursday afternoon, Joliet Patch's editor found an empty six-pack of Holland Lager beer bottles at the back stairwell.

Here's a snapshot of more — not necessarily all — of West Jefferson's woes:

• The empty Kmart at West Jefferson and Larkin Avenue remains in a state of decline - for the fourth straight year now.
• In June 2018, Buona Beef informed the city of Joliet that it planned to construct a drive-thru restaurant at 2210 W. Jefferson St. The large vacant lot is at the corner of Springfield Avenue, across the street from Town & Country Bowling. Two years later, the lot remains empty. The Buona Beef project never materialized. There is still a for sale sign on the lot.
• In September, Hawk opened its fancy new auto showrooms at Route 59 and Caton Farm Road for its Subaru and Mazdas. That's a huge positive for Joliet. On the downside, Hawk's relocation created another void on Jefferson. A for sale sign occupies the vacated Subaru dealership.
• It's now been 10 months since one of West Jefferson Street's mainstays, Bakers Square, announced its closing. The property still has a large for sale sign in the grass.
• Heading east, the empty Aaron's furniture, appliances, computers and electronics store at 918 West Jefferson St. remains a vacant strip mall across the street from the First Midwest Bank and Jewel grocery store.

In an interview Friday morning, Joliet's interim city manager Steve Jones said he foresees good days ahead for West Jefferson Street, noting that it already has a strong retail component. However, a number of the properties might be conducive to multi-family housing units, or perhaps, senior citizen housing developments, he said.

Jones said there is a huge need in Will County for more affordable housing given the Joliet region's incredibly strong - and growing - labor market. Last week, for instance, Joliet held a ribbon-cutting for the new Target distribution center on Route 6. Target started with 100 employees and expects to employ 300 people by the end of the year. A few miles away, in nearby Channahon, Amazon intends to open its new fulfillment center in September. Amazon will bring another 500-plus permanent jobs to the area.

"Keep in mind the market place dictates a certain level of retail within any community or within region," Jones said Friday. "One of the things I think we're facing with Jefferson (Street) is that generally, there's a little bit of an over-retailing that has occurred over time ... it's not a question that the city is just stuck with that and it can never happen with those properties. I think it's important to start looking at alternative uses."

Jones told Patch he has talked with some developers about looking at some multi-family housing developments on some of the larger vacant parcels.

"There could be some potential for some decent, upscale multi-family to replace those uses. There's more of a demand for multi-family in Joliet and the region," Jones said Friday.

To be fair, Joliet's West Jefferson Street is definitely not on life support. This is not the blight that was prevalent for decades along Route 30 in Chicago Heights.

The number of functioning retail stores, service businesses, banks and restaurants on West Jefferson Street far outweighs the existing vacancies.

The old Taco Bell was renovated into a Beef Shack and the Applebee's that closed in 2018 is now being remodeled into a Panera Bread that should open soon.

Among the many thriving businesses and restaurants are: David Nelson Exquisite Jewelry, Louis' Family Restaurant, Home Cut Donuts, Al's Steakhouse, McDonalds, World Kia Joliet, Mr. Submarine, Babe's Hot Dogs, Walmart and Menards.

And yet the same pockets along West Jefferson Street where many of the vacancies are sprouting up are near two large extended stay motels: Star Inn Motel, which advertises daily and weekly rates, as well as Fenton's Motel.

Joliet Police officers have responded to a number of calls — and made several arrests — at both Jefferson Street businesses, Joliet Patch articles from recent history show.

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As more commercial properties become vacant and stay that way, it seems that fewer new restaurants, retail stores, professional offices, auto shops, service companies and other venues are in a hurry to acquire the empty spaces on Jefferson Street.

One of the most recent closings happened in November at Wildhorse Bar & Grill, a sit-down restaurant that opened in 2017. It, too, now has a large for-sale sign out front.

Will someone else take a risk of reopening their own restaurant here? Will the property be repurposed as a check-cashing store, maybe a vape shop, or, if Illinois adds more marijuana licenses, perhaps another recreational cannabis store?

Mudron 5 To Blame?

Last June, the Mudron 5 voted to remove Marty Shanahan as interim city manager and send him back to the city's legal department. At the time, city economic director Steve Jones said if he filled the city manager role for 30 to 45 days, the city's economic development efforts would not suffer.

In August, the Mudron 5 opted to give Jones a huge raise and an employment contract to serve as city manager for at least six months.

For the Mudron 5 — Don "The Duck" Dickinson, Bettye Gavin, Mike Turk, Pat Mudron and Sherri Reardon — economic development became less of a priority.

Nobody replaced Jones once he took over his new role of running City Hall. His economic development office at City Hall, for the third largest city in Illinois, has been reduced to one full-time staffer, Derek Conley, economic development specialist, since last summer when the Mudron 5 city council wars began.

From Mayor Bob O'Dekirk's perspective, some of the problems along West Jefferson Street were already evident prior to Jones being taken out of his city economic development post last summer.

O'Dekirk said there has been a growing number of homeless people hanging around the area of Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue and their conduct, at times, scares some, particularly senior citizens who are harassed near the gas stations by people begging for money.

"I agree there are problems, and there are areas on Jefferson Street that need to be improved," O'Dekirk told Joliet Patch. "It seems like the homelessness has increased in that area.

"What happened to Jefferson Street didn't start eight months ago."