Tag Archives: Amvets Post 64

City Council, City of Peoria, History

AMVETS finance officer: “It is now time to move on”

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The City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to make the AMVETS building an historic landmark. The Historic Preservation Commission is recommending that they do. But it appears that even if the council ultimately votes against preserving the building, plans to move the AMVETS Post 64 to a new location are already kaput. Riverside Church has backed out of their purchase agreement for AMVETS’ current location, and the owners of the proposed new location — the old Penguin Tap in Peoria Heights — have moved on to another potential buyer for the property who offered more money.

So finance officer Joe Sharpe, in a post on AMVETS Post 64’s new blog, is suggesting the group move on and make the most of their current location. It turns out that it isn’t nearly as expensive to improve the building as some have thought; and it also turns out that ADA compliance may not be necessary for the group to make some extra money renting out the building:

A major reason for the move is not having an elevator. Ever since I started coming down to the AMVETS I was told that to have functions open to the public we must have an ADA compliant elevator. I even voted to spend $250,000 to put in a new elevator. We do not need a new elevator. I finally took the time to call the city to find out the facts. Currently we are grandfathered in to not have an ADA compliant elevator for public events. However, to maintain our grandfathered status, renovations to the building over a 30 month period cannot exceed $100,000 This fits into a “one floor at a time” approach. This is how a Peoria building inspector interpreted the law. I am currently waiting to hear back from a gentlemen in Springfield that handles this type of issue specifically. Please [view the code] paragraph B6.

I have taken a plumber and a union carpenter/contractor to look at the third floor. The plumber was impressed with the newer copper water lines and suggested new toilets, bathroom fixtures, and an additional toilet to the men’s room. The carpenter suggested laminate flooring and paint for the walls. I did not receive a written quote from either, but the carpenter believed that if we spent over $15,000 on paint and flooring materials we would be wasting [our] money.

High utilities are another supposed reason to move. So far this year our average CILCO bill has been under $2,000. The roof was cited as another reason to move. I have been on the roof and, although I’m not a roofer its condition looks excellent. The point is that we can easily spend less than $100,000 in order to start renting out the third floor ballroom.

Fixing one floor at a time is not enough by itself. We must hire someone able to maintain and actively promote the building to its fullest potential. I think Liz has taught us that one motivated employee can make a huge difference to the club. I am referring to the dramatic increase in daytime business. Linda currently cannot take on further responsibility required to fill this needed position.

I thank everyone that has put time into the move and I share your frustration caused by recent events. It is now time to move on and not let our fate rest in the hands of others.

Joe Sharpe
Finance Officer

City of Peoria, History

Will AMVETS historic preservation request get a hearing?

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I reported recently on some historic preservation requests that are wending their way through the system. One of those is the AMVETS building, 237 NE Monroe. That building got some criticism in the comments section of my blog. And according to another reader who e-mailed me over the weekend, there’s an effort underway to kill the proposed historic designation without even so much as a hearing:

Dear Sir

I saw your article about preserving the AMVETS building and wanted to inform you of the following: This upcoming Wednesday the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) will decide if the AMVETS application will receive a public hearing. I am afraid that they are being swayed, for the wrong reasons, to vote against a public hearing.

The building’s application, which can be obtained from the city, to make it historical was put together very well. There are nine criteria to make a building historic and only one of the nine needs to be met to make a designation. The application cites that the building meets 4 of the nine criteria and lists details why, providing pictures and proper research.

Key (although not all) members within the AMVETS do not want this to happen because they are in the process of trying to move the post location and a historic landmark of the building could prevent this. Certain AMVETS officers of the corporation are not sharing this information with the organization’s membership and lobbying the HPC to vote it down on Wednesday.

The point I am trying to make is that the Historic Preservation Commission has an obligation to permit a public hearing on applications that have merit. This building obviously has merit and deserves a public hearing. This will not guarantee the building is land-marked but will ensure its case is heard, as it should be. The buyer of AMVETS has made its intentions clear to eventual raze the building and it would be a shame to see a possible historic landmark torn down without a public hearing.

I request you make this known so that the commission feels pressure to do their job of ensuring applications get a fair public hearing. You may email me with questions and I understand if you do not want to get involved.

Thank you

A concerned citizen and veteran

I still haven’t seen the application, but it does seem reasonable to have a public hearing if the building indeed meets four of the nine criteria for historic designation. It’s not listed on the October agenda published on the city’s website, but this week’s “Issues Update” confirms, “The Historic Preservation Commission will be conducting a preliminary review of an application to Landmark property at 237 NE Monroe on October 22, 2008 instead of November 26, 2008.”

The Historic Preservation Commission meets at 8:30 a.m. this Wednesday.

City of Peoria, History

More historic landmark applications a good thing… mostly

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According to this week’s “Issues Update” from the City, historic landmark applications in Peoria are up.

“In the past two years, 2007 and 2006,” the report states, “a total of two landmark applications were filed for Irving School and Glen Oak Park.” In 2008, however, there have been four: Amvets Post #64 (237 NE Monroe), Hamilton Boulevard, 401 NE Monroe, and Family House Peoria (1509 N. Knoxville).

For those of you who can’t picture these buildings, here they are — respectively, the Amvets building, Family House, and 401 NE Monroe:

Generally, I see this as a good thing. Too much of Peoria’s history has already been razed. What’s left really should be preserved — presuming, of course, that it meets reasonable standards for preservation. Most of these properties do.

The one exception would be Hamilton Boulevard. This is on the council’s agenda for Tuesday night. What they are actually proposing be given landmark status is “the built median component of the right-of-way, located within Hamilton Boulevard, from Monroe Street to Glendale Avenue, and Randolph Avenue to North Street.” To which I ask, The median? Really?

The justification for this appears to be the fact that the street was laid out by William S. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton (you remember Alexander Hamilton — the guy on the $10 bill, first Secretary of the Treasury, died after famous duel with Aaron Burr). Okay, sure, William Hamilton is a prominent historical figure in Peoria. But he also laid out Water, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Liberty, Main, and Fayette. Should we also landmark all of those streets?

Besides, they kind of undercut their whole preservation argument when they removed the portion of Hamilton that is slated to be changed for the Methodist Hospital expansion. Les Kenyon of the Central Illinois Landmark Foundation (CILF) is quoted in the Historic Preservation minutes as saying:

…they [CILF] are satisfied that Methodist Hospital will provide a beautiful environment for patients, medical staff and visitors as they travel on the Hamilton corridor. He went on to say that for this reason, they have amended their original position with regard to Methodist Hospital’s plans and withdraw any objection to the Methodist Plan regarding landmarking Hamilton Boulevard through the Methodist campus and want to remove the Methodist campus from their landmark request.

But Methodist Hospital is removing the built median that CILF wants to see landmarked on the rest of the boulevard. So, is it historic or not? And Methodist is narrowing Hamilton where it passes their institutional zone. So, is the width of the street worth preserving or isn’t it? If Methodist’s plans for Hamilton don’t destroy the historic nature of the boulevard, then nothing does, and thus it needn’t be landmarked.

But don’t get me wrong. Even though I question this one landmark request, overall I think preserving Peoria’s built history is important. I was recently reading some newspaper clippings about the razing of the Rialto Theater to make way for the Civic Center, and it made me sad. It was one of Peoria’s original vaudeville houses. Originally called the Hippodrome, it housed many famous acts, as did the Palace Theater which was also razed about the same time. Whereas other cities, like Chicago, preserve their historic theaters, Peoria tore theirs down and felt the Civic Center theater was an adequate replacement. What a shame.

I’ve often joked (morbidly) that any history museum in Peoria should include an interactive exhibit where visitors can sit in a little crane and swing a wrecking ball into models of Peoria’s historical landmarks. It would be an object lesson in how little we value our history.