If you’re looking for a bargain on an office building downtown, don’t miss the auction for One Technology Plaza October 16-18. Starting bid is $1.5 million. The marketing description indicates the office building is 148,055 square feet (contiguous space up to 22,441 square feet) and only 31.7% occupied.

The building sits at the corner of Fulton and Adams streets, where the downtown Bergner’s store once stood. The old Bergner’s building was razed in the fall of 1997 to make way for the new “Riverfront Technology Center” (as it was called before a naming contest came up with “One Technology Plaza”). Developed by Diane Cullinan, the project was slated to cost $32.2 million, $12.4 million of which consisted of public investment from ICC ($3.2 million) and the City of Peoria ($9.2 million for the parking deck). It also got $1.2 million from Caterpillar and a state grant for $500,000.

At the time it was proposed, the City had high hopes for the tech center. It was going to provide high-tech training and provide high-tech infrastructure for tenants. It was going to revitalize downtown, make us part of the “silicon prairie,” lure new technology businesses to the city, help create a home-grown high-tech workforce, and beautify a blighted corner in the center of town.

The training portion of that dream, a company called RiverTech Community Technology Center, folded just a year after it opened due to lack of business, leaving 6,000 square feet of empty space. And just like that, One Technology Plaza became just another office building downtown, and everyone moved on to the next big project that was going to revitalize downtown.