'Exciting changes' are planned for this former KDB building in Peoria Heights

A building formerly owned by Kim Blickenstaff's KDB Group in Peoria Heights has been sold.

Roof Tiger, a Peoria Heights-based roofing company, purchased the Quonset Hut building at 4312 N. Prospect Road for a total sale price of $200,000.

Roof Tiger founder Ben Morrow said "exciting changes" will be coming to the aesthetics of what is one of Peoria Heights' more unique buildings.

"We plan to do something pretty spectacular with it in terms of making it up to code and up to date. Right now it's lacking quite a bit in its construction," Morrow said. "It was actually gutted by the previous owner, so we're going to go in there and make it useful for our business."

Morrow said the building will be used for storage purposes, but the Roof Tiger marketing and branding of the building will be clear.

"People will know it's Roof Tiger property," Morrow said. "We will be quite loud — within limits of Peoria Heights Village ... we will make it so it's pretty exciting for the public to see."

More: Abandoned and for sale: Here's what we know about 12 properties connected to Kim Blickenstaff

Peoria Mayor Mike Phelan said he wishes KDB Group would have worked with the village on the sale, or at least have given them a heads up on the sale of a building they believe to be a crucial part of the Prospect Avenue business corridor.

"We have heard nothing from (KDB Group). They don't seem to be willing to work with us on any development or any of the village's vision for the future," Phelan said.

The original vision for the property at 4312 N. Prospect Road was for it to be turned into a replica of Bradley University's old Robertson Memorial Field House. Those plans never materialized, and the building has sat empty since KDB Group bought it in 2019.

KDB Group at one time had a large footprint in Peoria Heights and had made a trove of redevelopment promises to the village.

Many of those promises did not come to fruition before KDB announced the sale of many of its properties in April.

In Peoria Heights, KDB Group is still selling the Save-A-Lot grocery store building 4425 N. Prospect and the Pabst Building.

It has already sold an empty lot to Trefzger's Bakery as well as the Betty Jayne Brimmer Performing Arts Center, which now houses Cafe Santa Rosa.

Phelan said the village would have liked to see the building become a sales-tax generating business that better fits the goal of a revitalized Prospect Avenue business corridor.

"These sorts of decisions makes that more difficult on this corridor, which was intended for sales tax generating businesses," Phelan said.

More: 'Owed some sort of explanation': Peoria-area leaders contemplate Blickenstaff's legacy

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria Heights Quonset Hut building sold to new business