December 30, 2023 / By mobanmarket
JOLIET, IL — An out-of-town investment company that outbid Joliet commercial investor John Bays several years ago to acquire downtown Joliet’s vacant AT&T Building, then spent $5 million remodeling the property only to attract zero tenants, now wants out of Joliet.
According to the real estate website LoopNet, Elite Riverfront Plaza in the Joliet City Center, will be the subject of an online real estate auction, Dec. 11-13. The starting bid will be $500,000. “Riverfront Plaza is an extensively renovated, 4-story 96,000-SF office with unobstructed views overlooking the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois,” the listing touts.
However, it appears that CBRE Capital Markets, the company hired to help unload the Joliet commercial property owned by Roselle-based EJ Investment Group, does not know the geography of Joliet very well.
The listing for the upcoming December public auction states: “Located at the intersection of the east-west tollway I-88, and the north-south tollway I-355 one of the most important intersections in DuPage County.”
Since when is Joliet located within DuPage County and along the I-88 tollway?
And that’s not all.
The listing also claims you can drive from downtown Joliet’s 65 West Webster Street to both of Chicago’s airports in 30 minutes.
Depending on whether the downtown drawbridges are down, you might be able to drive from downtown Joliet to Shorewood or Plainfield in 30 minutes, but O’Hare and Midway, seriously?
“O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport are approximately 30 minutes east and approximately 40 minutes to Chicago’s Central Business District,” the LoopNet listing proclaims. “CBRE Capital Markets, Investment Properties, and Ten-X has been retained by ownership as exclusive advisor and agent to sell 100 percent fee simple interest in Riverfront Plaza, located at 65 West Webster Street in Joliet, Illinois.”
In the days leading up to businessman Terry D’Arcy’s April election victory over Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, Joliet Patch produced a column drawing attention to the vacant 65 Riverfront Plaza building in downtown Joliet, and the headline was “Joliet Office Building Only Draws Graffiti, Vagrants: Ferak Column.”
“Unfortunately for everyone, EJ Investment’s vision for the new and improved 65 Riverfront Plaza did not come to fruition,”the column informed readers. “As a result, downtown Joliet remains stuck with an empty 97,000-square-foot building overlooking the dirty canal waters of the Des Plaines River.”
Since the column ran, the graffiti rampant across the building has been removed.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Joliet Office Building Only Draws Graffiti, Vagrants: Ferak Column
Joliet AT&T: $5M Project, New Name, 1st Tenant Revealed
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