 |
|
|
UER Store
|
|
order your copy of Access All Areas today!
|
|
|
 Intrinsic
      
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
 |  | Abandoned Springfield, IL icehouse to be auctioned off
< on 3/4/2009 8:49 PM >
|  | | | 1.
2.
A piece of icehouse history neighbors say has become an eyesore and a source of frequent police calls just east of the Abraham Lincoln Home National Historic Site is about to go on the auction block.
An executive with Illinois National Bank said Tuesday the bank is preparing a private-bid auction for later this month on behalf of owners of the former Central Illinois Ice Co. building at 918 E. Edwards St.
The 34,000-square-foot building, which last housed an indoor paintball field about eight years ago, occupies a half-block between Edwards and Cook streets along the 10th Street railroad tracks.
“It’s people hanging around and drinking, and sometimes they come in here and bother our customers,” said Amit Patel, owner of the adjoining Shell convenience store and service station at Ninth and Cook streets.
The area around the building is strewn with trash, clothing, liquor bottles and cans. A pair of boots has been left on a former loading dock. A trash can at the south end of the building is stuffed with liquor bottles.
A “Captain Splat” logo on the north side of the structure is a reminder of the indoor paintball business that last occupied the building.
Other neighbors, and even one of the owners, said police are often called to the abandoned building to handle complaints about loitering, vandalism and public drunkenness. The building no longer has electricity or plumbing.
INB senior vice president Rick Schramm said a minimum bid has not been set, but the “private auction” will let potential buyers submit sealed offers. The three top bidders may then compete for the final purchase price.
“It’s become an eyesore, and it either needs to be fixed up or torn down,” Schramm said.
Springfield Police Department spokesman Ray Serati said a specific number of calls to the address was not available, but police most often are called for loitering and drunkenness.
“We’ve also had transients and the homeless in there,” Serati said. “Some of the calls are self-generated by the officers.”
Assistant manager Becky Artel at the Henry Mischler House, 802 E. Edwards St., just south of the Lincoln Home, said the abandoned icehouse has not been a particular problem for the bed and breakfast.
But she said there have been thefts in the area, and abandoned buildings are always a problem for a neighborhood.
“Any time there’s an empty building in a town this size, people are going to go there for a place to stay,” Artel said.
“That would be great if they could get someone to tear it down or fix it up. But if they tear it down, and people are staying there, then where do they move to?” she added.
Sherman resident Peter Praia, who still has an ownership interest in the building, said financial problems began as the result of a dispute with the insurance company following a 2000 fire. He said the building remains structurally sound, but that it has been a losing battle against vandalism in recent years.
“It’s a solid building, but we’d board it up, and they’d rip it down and tear the building apart,” he said.
Praia said he thinks the building could be restored, adding that he doesn’t stand to profit from the auction through an agreement worked out with the bank.
“It just isn’t worth the heartache anymore,” he said.
The Illinois Primary Health Care Association headquarters at 500 S. Ninth St. is on the north side of Edwards from the icehouse. The association headquarters opened in early 2007.
Chief financial officer Jeff Hamrick said the association has inquired about the former icehouse, but has not had any recent discussions.
“We’d certainly be interested, quite frankly, if we could pick it up cheaply,” Hamrick said.
The icehouse hasn’t been a special problem, but association staff members have called police because of criminal activity in the area.
“We’ve not had a problem on our property, but there is a group of folks that hang out there behind the building,” Hamrick said.
Sangamon Valley Collection director Curtis Mann said the area was popular for icehouse operations because of the proximity to the 10th Street railroad tracks, especially with the coming of refrigerated railcars.
“They’d take the ice down a loading ramp, break it up and load it right into the railcar,” Mann said.
City economic development director Mike Farmer said the building, constructed in about 1909, is not on a city register of historic sites and is not in a tax increment financing district. But he said it is possible the structure could qualify for federally funded, community-development block grants, depending on the use.
Farmer also recalled the building in its better days.
“You could go there for block ice or bags of ice for your cooler for a barbecue, or to cool your beer,” Farmer said.
The former icehouse should at least be well insulated, he said.
“The walls are probably two or three feet thick,” he said.
|
|
|
|
All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site:
UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service |
View Privacy Policy |
Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 109 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 739610257 pages have been generated.
|
|
