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Immaculate Conception Church in Streator demolition enters final phase · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Immaculate Conception Church in Streeter demolition enters final phase. Written
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  by Bill Frescos. This article is being read by an
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  automated voice brought to you by Everlett. The demolition of
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  the former Immaculate Conception Church and Streeter reached its final
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  phase this week as crews began taking down the main
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  church building. Streeter City engineer Jeremy Palm said temporary traffic
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  detours around the demolition sites are expected to remain in
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  place only while crews work on removing the church's steeple. Specifically,
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  traffic on Park Street Route twenty three North will be
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  detoured left onto Elm Street, right onto Bloomington Street Route
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  twenty three South, then right onto Morrell Street before returning
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  to Park Street Route twenty three North. Palm said the
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  detour set up along route twenty three will be installed
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  each morning around six am and removed at the end
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  of each workday, typically around five or six pm. No
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  official completion date has been set for the project at
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  this time. Palm said crews began dismantling the steeple Tuesday
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  using two cranes, removing the structure in sections to reduce
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  risk to nearby traffic and surrounding areas. Once the steeple
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  is reduced to a lower height, Palm said, the cranes
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  will be removed and demolition crews will continue tearing down
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  the remainder of the church from ground level using more
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  routine demolition methods. The site is part of a larger
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  redevelopment plan handled by Beck's Oil, which includes a new
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  gas station and convenience store. The proposed redevelopment agreement would
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  offer some tax revenues to assist Beck Oil Company in
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  tearing down the existing church buildings, acquiring the property, extending utilities,
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  and upgrading infrastructure like water and sewer lines and sidewalks.
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  Tiff eligible costs would total around two point five million
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  dollars of the u S eleven million dollars total investment
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  by Beck Oil Company. Under the proposed plan, BES would
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  invest about eleven million dollars into the site, with the
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  city reimbursing up to two point five seven million dollars
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  through a pay as you go tax increment financing agreement,
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  meaning the company would be repaid over time from a
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  share of new property taxes the property will generate. The
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  city would pay nothing upfront. Former city manager David Plyman
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  overviewed the proposal for the council in a meeting last year,
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  noting that while eighty five percent two point five million
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  dollars of the increment going back to BES may sound
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  like a lot, that also means the city gets fifteen
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  percent of all the growth. Mayor Tera Biday previously noted
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  that the current block is generating seventy nine thousand, six hundred,
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  one hundred and thirty two dollars a year in property
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  taxes to the city, but once the city reimburses BES,
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  the city is estimated to receive an additional twenty thousand
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  dollars to thirty thousand dollars a year. Beck's officials were
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  unavailable for comment on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.