A press release from the City of Danville cited the court’s ruling that “the city’s claim against Collins Enterprises does not meet the requirements of state statutes for abandonment of the building.”
Downtown Danville visitors enjoying last Friday’s HOP DANVILLE First Fridays Easter event, with Bresee Tower in the background.
The release went on to say that the City of Danville intends to continue pressing demolition claims due to unsafe conditions and ordinance violations. Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr says that as owners, Collins Enterprises will need to fix these problems; or else tear the building down themselves or have the city do so.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: Crumbling facade that continues to create safety hazards for our community; rusted out window frames; being unable to open the second westbound lane on Main Street. I just know that we’ll continue to fight to force them to either fix the building and return it to good condition; or tear it town, or to allow us to tear it down so we can ensure the safety of our people and our visitors.
Chris Collins of Collins Enterprises referred Neuhoff Media to his attorney, Neal Smith; and a call was made. Neal Smith’s statement is as follows:
We are extremely pleased with the decision of the appellate court restoring title to the Bresee Tower to C.A. Collins Enterprises. We look forward to working with the City of Danville and the community as we endeavor to preserve this historic property.
Meanwhile, two weekends back we heard from Justin Fern of Urban Equity Properties up in Rockford; a company known for restoring run down historic buildings around the state. He says their legal team is watching what’s going on very closely; and they are still very much interested in turning Bresee Tower into 33 luxury apartments. Fern says they’ve worked with both private and public entities, and there are positives and negatives with both.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: Makes it a little easier if it’s government owned versus privately owned; there’s challenges on both sides of this. At the same time it’s sometimes easier to deal with a private party, right, than a government, as far as an acquisition goes. A lot of different moving parts on this one, and we’re prepared to do what we have to do to get the deal done. We’ve got our legal team involved, and that’s kind of where that lies right now.
The Appellate Court decision has effectively sent the case back to Vermilion County, but no new court date was established right away.
