Bays Buying Two Rialto Square Building

JOLIET, IL - The Two Rialto Square building just north of the Rialto Square Theatre on North Chicago Street is being acquired by Joliet businessman John Bays. The president of Bays Investment Corporation told Joliet Patch on Friday that he has worked out a deal to take over the nearly empty professional building at the corner of downtown's Clinton and Chicago Streets.

The multi-story office complex was the site of two massive water main breaks this past summer, prompting most all the tenants to decide enough is enough, they're moving out.

Only a few tenants remain. This past fall, officials with the Rialto board announced their intentions to try to sell the property, which was already falling into disrepair.

Bays told Joliet Patch on Friday that "I'm going to make it a first class building, it's either going to be a hotel or a beautiful office building."

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Two Rialto Square also encompasses the empty ground-level storefront that served as Gallery Seven, a group of local artists who were allowed to use the space rent-free for several years. That space has been empty for the past year.

Bays said if he does end up bringing a new hotel to downtown Joliet, he would probably use the Gallery Seven building space for a sit-down restaurant.

But that's only if the hotel concept materialized, he stressed.

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Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor