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Old Bennett Building Demolition Yields Land Donation To Peotone

Two 'buildable' parcels and an alley at the Bennett Industries Building site give the village interesting options

Karen Haave  /  February 16, 2012  /  Views: 371  /   No Comments

THE SITE WHERE the Bennett Industries, Inc. building stood for many years now is vacant, after a month-long demolition project that concluded in early February. The tear-down resulted in several parcels of land, and an alley, that Harris Rebar Midwest no longer needed. The Delaware state company "sold" the property to the village for the princely sum of $1 on Monday night. Village Administrator George Gray said the land could support construction, but the board has not discussed whether to keep it or sell it. --photo by Karen Haave

Demolition of the old Bennett Industries Building north of Crawford Street, near the railroad tracks, resulted in an unexpected bonus of free land for the Village of Peotone.

The tear-down left vacant several parcels, plus an alley, owned by Harris Rebar Midwest, Inc., and since HRM had no use for the land, it was donated to the village.

The village board accepted the donation during Monday's regular meeting and agreed to pay $1 for the land.

"During the course of implementing the demolition of the Bennett Building, it became apparent that the building was located on property owned by two different entities: Canadian National Railroad (CN) and Harris Rebar Midwest," Village Administrator George Gray said.

"While the building was primarily located on CN property, a portion of the loading dock existed on property owned by Harris Rebar Midwest.

"After research conducted by the village attorney, it became apparent that CN had responsibility to remove the building. However, as much of the site work area and part of the loading dock was located on property owned by Harris Rebar, it became necessary to obtain certain permissions from Harris Rebar."

Gray said that HRM subsequently approached the village with an offer to donate all of their real estate holdings in the area where the Bennett Building stood until its demolition last month.

The largest section of land is adjacent to the site of the CN Railroad tracks; the second is across the street, on the southwest corner of Lincoln and Washington Streets.

The property on the west side of Washington is buildable, Gray said later, possibly as a home site.

The parcel adjacent to the CN tracks also could support construction of some type of building, although certainly not residential.

"We could sell the land," he added, "but we've not really discussed it."

Located in Delaware, Harris Rebar Midwest, Inc., has agreed to pay the property taxes through February 13. Gray said the village will apply for an exemption so that it will not have to pay additional taxes on the land.

--karenhaave@comcast.net

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