THE FOLLOWING IS A CITY OF DANVILLE RELEASE
Danville, May 3, 2024 – The City of Danville is being proactive about future property development throughout the city, and we feel inclined to make a statement about the upcoming auction of the Village Mall, located at 2917 N. Vermilion Street, set to take place on Monday, May 13, 2024.
If you look around, you might notice the hundreds of blighted structures we have removed in the last several years and how seriously we are taking this effort. Annually, The City of Danville invests more than $1,000,000 towards reducing blight. This funding comes from a variety of sources including the Community Development Block Grant, the Community Reinvestment Fund, and the Illinois Housing Development Authority. We also pull from our General Fund when necessary.
A variety of factors have impacted the need for us to allocate a large portion of our city budget to managing these problem properties in Danville. A reduction in our population is just one of the major contributors. However, we also have an ongoing problem with mismanaged residential and commercial properties and a lack of maintenance and preservation efforts from their owners. The aftermath of this poor stewardship leaves us with devastating setbacks for our community and a halt in development in those neighborhoods.
Some recent examples of this in our community include Bresee Tower, the Sears building, and the Adams building, all located in our downtown district. When entities without the proper resources purchase these large structures at a small cost without the means of developing them or even maintaining them, the deteriorating structures eventually pose many threats to the health and economic viability of the area. They present safety concerns such as falling debris, increased crime, and mold growth. Bordering structures are impacted as property values decrease and new businesses are not incentivized to locate in an area with abandoned structures, causing a cascade of negative economic consequences.
The City of Danville is proactively rectifying these large, mismanaged problem properties in a variety of ways, but it comes at a great cost to our city and our citizens – millions of dollars are spent to pursue legal action to obtain the structures for demolition or restoration. The process is lengthy, and the loss to our community is great. That is why we want to make a statement regarding the upcoming Village Mall Auction.
The 35+ acres that comprise the Village Mall, are being divided into three parcels set to go to online auction on May 13, 2024. Two of the three parcels are being sold as an absolute auction with opening bids of just one dollar, meaning they will be sold to the highest bidder no matter how low the price. This means that anyone with a dollar or more could gain ownership of a very large, highly important structure in our city. Time and time again, we have seen what happens when these cornerstone buildings in our community end up in the wrong hands. The
City of Danville wants to discourage entities who cannot rightfully develop the property from bidding. Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. says, “This structure is very important to our community, and it is imperative that it ends up in the right hands. We will be taking this very seriously because Danville has made too much forward progress to allow a cornerstone in our community to deteriorate.”
The City of Danville wants to communicate loud and clear that we will proactively be enforcing building code and maintenance standards on the Village Mall. The purchaser will be held liable for the condition of the structure and parking lots that are acquired. This accountability for improperly managed property comes with fines, legal expenses, and legal consequences. We know the incredible, positive impact that could occur for Danville with this structure in the hands of the right developer and we are doing everything possible on our end to ensure the best possible outcome for our citizens.
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