'The Cars Are Going To Be Safe Now,' John Bays Tells Patch

JOLIET, IL — If you've been to downtown Joliet lately, you've probably noticed the transformation of the Scott Street Parking Deck, formerly owned by the city of Joliet. Now that Joliet businessman John Bays has acquired it, his company, Bays Investments, has been working nonstop, painting the inside and outside of the three-level parking garage, power washing the concrete walls and stairwells, patching pieces of broken concrete and installing new entrance signs.

"Well, we will finish all the painting and everything by this weekend," Bays told Joliet Patch on Wednesday. "And we've already re-did the elevator, and we're doing all the security cameras throughout the whole property, thirty-two cameras, all should be in within the next ten days.

"All the new automated entrance ways, the cash machines, six weeks, all that should be installed," Bays said.

Bays said he will be temporarily patching all the concrete floors. He estimated that he has spent $240,000 in upgrades to the parking deck since he acquired the property from the city of Joliet a couple of weeks ago.

"A lot of people are happy that the place is clean," Bays said. "We've pressure-washed the whole deck, got all the garbage and trash out of here.

"The cars are going to be safe now. Everything's going to be clean. We're going to have cameras where we can video anybody that does any damage. So I think within six to eight weeks the whole parking deck will look totally different."