GENEVA — The city is taking steps to order the owner of a now-vacant downtown building to make repairs or demolish the building — at their cost.
However, officials believe the building, which has significant structural issues, likely will need to be demolished — with the cost borne by the city.
On Wednesday night, City Council approved a resolution setting an Aug. 5 public hearing to determine whether City Council should deem 555 S. Exchange St., the former Holiday bar, an unsafe structure and order its repair or removal.
The Holiday has been closed for many years, but the building had occupied apartments until last year. During an operating permit extension last August, the city said it observed structural issues on the front-side units of the building, which City Manager Amie Hendrix reported to Council in December.
“Because tenants in rear units must use front entrances, the owner was required to provide an engineer’s certification of safety,” she told Council. “The owner did not supply acceptable documentation, and the building was ordered vacated.”
The building was cordoned off this week, as bricks have fallen off the center of the building facing Exchange Street.
City Attorney David Hou called it a “delinquent property with, frankly, a deadbeat owner.”
The owner, Cecere Holdings LLC, was served with a notice for repair or demolition, with a provision that the owners submit an acceptable plan for repair or demolition within 90 days. That plan was not met, the city said, prompting the upcoming hearing to determine whether the property is unsafe. The hearing will allow City Council to “review the merits of the property,” Hou said. “It doesn’t commit the city to any course of action.”
Hou noted that if the city ultimately razed the building, those costs would be placed on the tax bill for the property.
Given the status of the property, city officials believe it will likely go to tax foreclosure, meaning Geneva would be on the hook for the demolition bill because the city would be the new property owner.
“There isn’t really a bright future here,” said Councilor-At-Large John Brennan, who explained that the rehabilitation of the property is unlikely because of the building’s poor condition.
“I don’t know if you know how bad this building is,” he said to resident Jackie Augustine, who wondered in the public comment portion of the meeting if there was a possibility of rehabilitation. “It’s literally cracked in half. … We’re going to own it and we’re going to have to pay for it.”
Ward 5 Councilor Jim Petropoulos said he was in the building and remarked that it’s “going to take a lot to fix that building up.”
Mayor Jim Cecere did not participate in the discussion or the vote for the public hearing, noting he is related to the owners.