John Bays' Parking Deck Demolition: 'We're Moving Pretty Fast'

JOLIET, IL ? In late May, a 40-foot to 50-foot section of concrete wall crashed to the sidewalk in downtown Joliet at the John Bays Executive Centre's private parking garage. This week, the parking deck that was built during the 1970s is being demolished.

On Friday, demolition contractors with C & D Recycling Services were tearing down the parking garage.

"We should be done and cleaned up in three weeks," remarked Jack Foschi, one of the demolition contractors with C & D, a company in Joliet owned by Arin Freeman-Gaither.

Foschi said it left him upset to see people criticizing John Bays after the parking garage wall collapsed on the night of May 19. Nobody was injured during the collapse.

The private parking deck near the corner of Clinton Street and Scott Street is next to St. Anthony's Catholic Church. The garage had 166 parking spaces. It was built during the 1970s.

"I will take care of whatever the problem is," Bays told Joliet Patch on May 20. "I will fix it or tear it down. I would never have dreamed that that would happen. "

On Friday, Foschi told Joliet Patch, "John Bays plays no games. He gets the work done right away. John Bays acted fast, and the parking garage is coming down."

Foschi said it was his understanding that Bays will not build another parking deck on the site.

Last summer, less than a block away, Bays bought the city of Joliet's Scott Street public parking deck, which is along Cass and Clinton Streets.

"It will still be parking," Foschi said, referring to the Executive Centre property where the parking deck is being taken down. "It's a hard demolition. It's got cables in it ... three weeks from now it will be clean, if everything goes" according to plan.

During a phone interview, Bays told Joliet Patch that the lowel level will become a parking lot for the adjacent Chase Bank once the demolition is done. The lot will have 54 spaces, he said.

He said he got an estimate to rebuild the parking deck, but the estimate was $2.2 million and the contractor could not assure him that that cost would not increase once the work began.

Bays said the demolition and the construction of the new parking lot will probably take "four to six months to be totally done with everything. We're moving pretty fast on it."