A new building gives hope to a blighted area in Belleville. But will it ever be filled?

A 10,000-square-foot, dark gray building at West Main Street and North Belt West in Belleville has been the subject of widespread curiosity since construction began three years ago.

It stands out because it’s a new development in a commercial area filled with dilapidated and vacant buildings and because it has remained empty, despite appearing to be largely finished for months. At one point, it had a “for sale” sign out front.

The owner, Mohammed “Mike” Jaber, said Monday that he has decided to keep the building, and he hopes to move in his business, A&A Beauty & Fashion, sometime this summer.

“It’s going to be nice,” he said. “We’re going to have a big grand opening.”

Jaber owns A&A Beauty Supply in nearby Bellevue Park Plaza. Moving it into the new building at 4524 W. Main St. will double its size. Plans call for an expanded “department store” with beauty supplies, clothing, shoes, jewelry, purses, cellphones and other electronics.

Jaber said project delays have resulted from “problems with the city and the contractor” and his inability to get parts for an electrical panel that were ordered a year ago.

Jaber said he’s now working with a different contractor.

Ed Escobedo, the city’s electrical inspector, confirmed that many developers have had issues with back orders on electrical parts, forcing Ameren to get involved in some cases.

“Even with residential meter bases, (suppliers) were sometimes telling these contractors that they were 52 weeks out,” he said.

Stop-work orders

Beyond the electrical system, city Building Commissioner Steve Thouvenot said he has issued several stop-work orders on the West Main Street project due to problems such as improper installation of foundation footings and blocks for exterior walls, which had to be redone.

Some problems could have been avoided if Jaber hadn’t been acting as his own general contractor, according to Thouvenot.

“There’s just been issues all along,” he said. “He was relying on a family member to do a lot of work that just wasn’t up to code standards, so we couldn’t allow it to go through.”

Another agency involved in the project is the Illinois Department of Transportation. It’s responsible for oversight at the intersection of West Main Street and North Belt West.

IDOT inspectors required Jaber to relocate entrances to his parking lot, which he did, then they determined that the newly-poured concrete encroached on the state’s right-of-way, including a traffic-signal base.

That problem has been fixed as of Tuesday, IDOT spokesman Paul Wappel said.

“The owner has been notified that we no longer have objections to issuing the occupancy permit,” he said, noting Jaber has 60 days to do grading, seeding and drainage work between the parking lot and sidewalk.

Second location

Jaber opened his first A&A Beauty Supply store in St. Louis 30 years ago and his second location at Bellevue Park Plaza six years ago.

Jaber bought two adjacent parcels on the southeast corner of West Main Street and North Belt West in 2019 under the name A&A Beauty & Fashion Corp., according to St. Clair County records.

Jaber had a Valvoline Instant Oil Change shop demolished before starting construction on the new building.

The project is in Belleville’s TIF 3 tax-increment-financing district, but the city didn’t provide any financial incentives, said Eric Schauster, assistant director of economic development, planning and zoning.

Despite project delays over the past three years, Thouvenot doesn’t disagree with Jaber’s assessment that his business could move into the new building sometime this summer.

“Once he gets the problem taken care of with IDOT and the electrical panel comes in, things could happen pretty fast,” he said Monday, before IDOT reinspected the property Tuesday.

Belleville City Council recently approved the hiring of a consultant to start the process of creating another tax-increment-financing district to encourage economic development in the commercial area around Bellevue Park Plaza, describing it as “blighted.”

A vacant building long considered an eyesore on West Main Street is set to be demolished, according to Thouvenot. It once was the location of Reeb’s Dairy and the building most recently housed a quick-loan business.

“It’s the owner himself who is tearing it down with no cost to the city,” Thouvenot said. “... He’s come to the realization that the property is probably worth more with that building gone.”