49 Comments » - fs - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:02 am: 31 stories that sustained heavy water damage and has since sat sealed up for a few years…yeah I’m gonna need to deep dive into the interior condition before making any bid above zero. Something tells me the inside might look like the upside down world in Stranger Things. The potential mold +the leases for communication towers will complicate both anyone renovating it and anyone trying to demolish it. Until proven otherwise, that property is a lose/lose right now. - DuPage Saint - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:02 am: Any chance Cellini picks it up?, - Resident Zillenial - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:05 am: “a diversified financial services company that delivers expert professional services and capital solutions to help clients maximize value and drive performance across the business lifecycle” Check this word salad for cyclospora - Downstate Surveyor - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:05 am: Cellini’s in Italy. Maybe he could find some Goodfella investors over there….. - Bored Chairman - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:07 am: Tear that monstrosity down! Build a tastefully designed and landscaped mixed-use development to beautify the city, add quality housing stock, and bring more people downtown 24/7. - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:08 am: “So, I’ll volunteer to buy it if they promise to first tear it down and give me $20 million. ” Is that you, Kevin Warren? - Irreverent - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:08 am: I’ll put in fourteen dollars and 6 full grams of pocket lint - Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:10 am: Man, the hours I spent in that building during contract negotiations. The street-level bar was nice, twenty odd years ago. The patrons didn’t look at you sideways if you walked in wearing jeans. The car ramp in the parking garage was tighter than a duck’s rear end. - fs - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:11 am: ==Is that you, Kevin Warren?== Quick, someone draw up a plan for a stadium on this+county parking lot blocks, in exchange for losing their restaurant, it could be named Saputo’s Memorial Stadium - Glengarry - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:17 am: I remember bits of a long night where I was walking by the parking garage and the attendant was watching something terrible so I changed the channel for him and said you’re welcome. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:18 am: So many good memories there: conferences, smoking cigars in the top floor lounge, Nick & Nino’s and the other top floor restaurants, and meeting friends for coffee at the non-Starbucks Starbucks. What a shame. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:23 am: ===So many good memories there=== Same. And my barber had been in that building since before the hotel actually opened. I gave a speech there several years ago and I joked that I had looked in the mirror that morning and realized I was in dire need of a haircut. Luckily, I said, my barber is on the first floor. Pat was able to get me in, so I was in his chair as audience members started filing out to go to the Statehouse, waving at me as they went by and then some waving at me outside his big window, which faced 7th St. So much has been lost downtown. I try not to think of it because it’s just so depressing. The last mayor who gave a whit about the sandbox was Davlin. Miss that guy. - Indoor Gardener - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:25 am: As a downtown resident, I offer them a down payment on a wrecking ball. On another note, city employees, myself and downtown visitors have been using the parking garage as free parking, and the city still gives parking tickets for violations of signage on the first floor. I wonder if the city can keep the garage? - thisjustinagain - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:31 am: You couldn’t pay me to take it. The second your name is on those papers, you’re liable for headaches you may not even know about. Including asbestos pipe insulation, floor tile, and ceiling tile. And that tower sticks out like a proverbial sore thumb around those shorter buildings. - Team Sleep - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:34 am: Davlin was the best. He was not only a great mayor but an overall good dude. He would have never let downtown fall off the way it has. - hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:40 am: Can they make it a package deal with the water-logged uninhabitable Chase Bank building in Peoria’s downtown? - Stones - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:40 am: I remember when it was built. There was a great restaurant on the rooftop and a cool speakeasy on the ground floor. It was and innovative building at the time but was plagued by noise issues (piping not secured inside the walls as the building swayed). I believe is was called the Hilton Forum 30 at the time. - Occasionally Moderated - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 11:43 am: Well, it’s no Baymont but I think it could work. - Anyone Remember - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:00 pm: While there’s lot of blame to go around, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the last city council. The then-mayor, aka COVID era “Mayor of Shark City” who had a background in commercial banking, negotiated a deal with the owner. Members of the city council sympathetic to the current mayor killed the deal, with the then and current alderman from the southwest Springfield “Leave it to Beaver” ward saying (paraphrasing) “Now we’ll get a better deal.” Instead we got water damage. Again, lots of guilty parties, but the city council opponents to the last mayor are the most to blame. - illinifan - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:08 pm: Whoever buys it will have to carefully check the elevators. Who know who or what you will find in the constantly stuck elevators. - Skeptic - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:14 pm: -Quick, someone draw up a plan for a stadium- There was that Vista Block idea, maybe that could be part of it /s - Josh Evans - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:16 pm: I’ve been working downtown for the last 20 years…I would love to bring business back to downtown Springfield as part of our annual meetings, monthly leadership meetings, etc. - but I won’t while this eyesore stands and is a blight on downtown. The paint job on the plywood sure looks nice though! - Listing Service - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:17 pm: They forgot: Great Fixer-Upper! A handyman’s dream. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:19 pm: ===carefully check the elevators=== It’s a tear-down. There are no fixes for that mess. - btowntruth from forgottonia - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:46 pm: Wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. Developers might be able to known it down and put something better there but the City of Springfield and their ability to screw up downtown remains unmatched. - fs - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:58 pm: == but the city council opponents to the last mayor are the most to blame.== Laughable. That owner was the absolute last person any city should want to deal with, as evidenced by what he (“allegedly”) then did to the property. The city council did the right thing, and if any justice would be served it would be that guy in jail and his other assets sold to pay for demolition. - Which one’s Pink - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 1:22 pm: A political science professor at LLCC in the late 1970s referred to the building as Springfield’s phallic symbol. He was an odd dude that wore too short plaid pants. - Lurker - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 1:24 pm: I don’t really know how it happens but all I can hope for is that it gets tore down. - Been There - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 1:27 pm: That press release says it is a whole city block but I am pretty sure the city owns it. During and after covid the city pretty much let you park there for free. Once in awhile there was an attendant there. But the hotel would always ask if wanted parking added to the room. I always declined. I think once I had to pay up. - Incandenza - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 1:40 pm: == Tear that monstrosity down! Build a tastefully designed and landscaped mixed-use development to beautify the city, add quality housing stock, and bring more people downtown 24/7. == This is the way to revitalize downtown. Not hotels. There’s a limited market for tourism. But there is always a market for housing, and almost every study shows that walkable mixed use housing options have high demand and not enough supply. It’s about time Springfield brings not just parking garages to downtown, but people living there and walking around. - Sir Reel - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 1:42 pm: Gut it and it could be a missle silo, maybe grain storage, or how about a chemical tank. So many possibilities. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 1:46 pm: ===There’s a limited market for tourism=== While I agree with your downtown housing comment, I think the city could do a whole lot more to attract tourists. We have two presidents who spent time here: Lincoln and Obama. But you’d barely know Obama served in the state Senate and launched his presidential campaign and introduced his veep pick in the capital city. Too much failure. Too little imagination. Springfield used to look down its nose at Decatur. Well, I got news for you. - here we go again - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 2:11 pm: Let’s face it, Springfield, Illinois is a sad, rundown hick town and few live there on purpose. - The apologist - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 2:19 pm: I stayed there a few years ago. What a dump. - FIREDup! - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 2:24 pm: Blame the city all you want, but who was the downtown base? State workers. And when they never returned to the office businesses couldn’t survive. Why is the state building onto the mall and buying a building on the far west side of Springfield (practically Curran) with all those vacant buildings downtown? Yes, we also need downtown residents, but the state is just as much to blame as the city. - 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 2:27 pm: Christmas 30 years ago in my hometown, half the town came out to see them demo the old Allis Hotel—they could sell tickets for this one and make some money. The final countdown starts at the 7 minute mark: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-DKAoQ-3cB0 - fs - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 2:28 pm: == We have two presidents who spent time here: Lincoln and Obama.== Three including Grant, who I believe lived downtown during the months/year he was living in Springfield training troops at the beginning of the War - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 2:43 pm: ===Why is the state building onto the mall=== One reason is the landlords downtown have let their buildings fall into disrepair. Also, the sewer system is ancient and backs up. And a mayor interested in retaining state jobs downtown would be more proactive in putting private and public pressure on the governor. - The Dude Abides - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 3:03 pm: =Too much failure. Too little imagination. Springfield used to look down its nose at Decatur. Well, I got news for you.= As someone who grew up in Decatur and set roots in Springfield, I’d still be looking down my nose at Decatur. Besides ADM, there’s nothing there to incentivize those like me who went away to college to want to come back and settle down. - I Am, I Said - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 3:24 pm: ===Why is the state building onto the mall=== “Why would people want to work in safer structures when they can rent downtown for the low, low price of $17/sqf while the building is on fire with people still inside?” - Downtown Springfield Landlords - Give us Barabbas - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 3:39 pm: My take is, convert the whole tower into condos and apartments. This injects a critical number of residents into downtown that will patronize the business in walking distance 365 days a year. The downtown relies on three pillars: tourism, business/government and residential. The massive number of state workers is never coming back, gigantic private company office complexes are gone, the world has changed. Tourism is great but has declined and is sporadic; little one and two-day hits with long periods in between. Residential spaces downtown are under-developed and could help stabilize the deficits of the other two pillars. I would say gut it down to the concrete and rebuild it as residential with a mix of income levels and it will revitalize downtown. A demolition and new construction would take much longer and not provide the density that makes the economic engine possible. - rnug - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 3:42 pm: == carefully check the elevators == They have been evaluated; the elevators can’t be saved. == There’s a limited market for tourism == The city has big tourism plans for downtown - rnug - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 3:44 pm: == My take is, convert the whole tower into condos and apartments == Not cost effective with the amount of damage the building has sustained - Leatherneck - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 4:11 pm: = The downtown relies on three pillars: tourism, business/government and residential.= There’s now a 4th downtown pillar: The Medical Community. - FIREDup! - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 4:19 pm: Point taken on the downtown landlords, especially the ones who can afford to do the right thing and choose not to. I’m looking at you Horace Mann… - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 4:24 pm: The Illinois GOP should buy it for their HQ. It’s a turnkey ready metaphor. - Candy Dogood - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 5:03 pm: ===So much has been lost downtown. I try not to think of it because it’s just so depressing. === Yep. ===One reason is the landlords downtown have let their buildings fall into disrepair. Also, the sewer system is ancient and backs up.=== Yep. - Give Us Barabbas - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 7:18 pm: I want some more professional opinions on whether it could be rehabbed before we tear it down. If you nuke the entire site and start from a clean sheet of paper, it might be very nice, but it won’t happen for 8 to 10 years and downtown needs help now. And it does not need another hotel that is empty five days out of seven. I think a gut rehab of the tower into apartments and condos would happen faster than a clean sheet redo of the entire site. But if it happens that the experts, all agree, it has to come down, something about the same size needs to go back up or if not the same height, at least the same density so wider instead of taller, maybe, but same density. The elevators can be rebuilt and if the concrete is still good, which is likely, then you’ve got the bones ready for a new body, that’s good head start over the clean sheet alternative. It’s creative re-use. - Jus Sayin - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 7:51 pm: Remember how divided public opinion was over tearing down the Y building at 5th and Capitol? Half wanted to keep it because it held valuable childhood memories and an “architectural significance” because it had a 2nd floor inground pool. The other half wanted it demolished because it would be too expensive to renovate. No action was taken for years until restoration was no longer an option. Inevitably, it was demolished. That may not be what everyone wants to happen here with the old Hilton, but that is the most likely outcome. Various people will sit around arguing between saving it or tearing it down; then, they will take no action either way; finally, it will become a hazard that will have to be demolished. TrackBack URI Anonymous commenters, uncivil comments, rumor-mongering, disinformation and profanity of any kind will be deleted. Name/Nickname - Required (required) E-mail - Not required (not required) URL - Not required