Joliet AT&T Building: New Owner Gets To Work
JOLIET, IL — The AT&T building in downtown Joliet has been vacant the past couple years, but over the past few weeks, that's not been the case. Several vans and vehicles have been parked next to the building and a garbage chute was placed in one of the upper floors.
Joliet Patch's last big story on the AT&T building occurred in January 2019 when the Joliet property at 65 West Webster St. was the subject of an online auction. The property faces the Des Plaines River and it's just up the street from the Harrah's Casino & Hotel. It had been used as professional offices when AT&T owned it.
On Friday, city of Joliet economic development specialist Derek Conley told Patch that the new owner of the AT&T building is EJ Investment Group, based in Roselle.
"Right now, they're doing interior demolition work," Conley said. "They are pursuing tenants for the building."
The 97,000-square-foot building was built in 1956.
Because of the shape of the building, Conley said the upper floors are probably best for professional offices and the first floor could house "a variety of commercial businesses."
Conley said he does not expect the AT&T building will sit vacant for long now that the EJ Investment Group has acquired it.
"They're very eager to invest in the building and get some tenants," Conley said Friday. "It's their first project in Joliet."
Nowadays, there's a lot of building redevelopments occurring in downtown Joliet, along with the new construction of the $215 million Will County Courthouse that will open in November. The historic Barber Building on North Chicago Street was converted into about three dozen high-end apartments by building owner Mike Petry. MyGrain Brewing moved into the historic Union Station, becoming Joliet's first microbrewery.
The legendary Keg restaurant building at Jackson and Ottawa Streets had been vacant for nine years, and it's undergone a dramatic transformation into Catrinas Mex. The First Midwest Bank building added a third floor tenant, Barrister Investigations. The K Ribs BBQ opened across the street from First Midwest Bank and Sunshine Cafe opened a year ago on North Scott Street.
In late 2018, Joliet held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate Illinois Marine Towing relocating its corporate headquarters into the downtown Catholic Charities building now owned by John Bays at the corner of Ottawa and Cass Streets.
"I think a lot of development has occurred in Joliet the past five years and that development is attracting more investors," Conley told Joliet Patch.
This article originally appeared on the Joliet Patch
