Patch Called For Senor Tequila's Razing: It Finally Happened

JOLIET, IL — On Aug. 2, 2018, I wrote a column suggesting that Basinger's Pharmacy was doing a great disservice to Joliet by letting the former Senor Tequila property remain in a state of decay, refusing to tear down the empty dilapidated building along West Jefferson Street.

The continued existence of the vacant Senor Tequila building made that particular stretch of West Jefferson Street a less than desirable area for prospective investors to open a business. In 2019, the Baker's Square restaurant next door went out of business. In January, the property was sold at an online auction, several hundred thousand dollars less than the property was originally listed.

As for the Senor Tequila, Basinger's, the property owners, ignored my calls to tear down the property, so this past Dec. 1, I wrote another column. This time, I pointed out how the Joliet City Council's state of dysfunction had caused city officials to overlook so many projects that matter to people including the continued blight of the Senor Tequila property:

"Now, nearly four years after Basinger's received a liquor license, demolition has not even started on the former Señor Tequila establishment. I bring up the Señor Tequila debacle because it illustrates how the Joliet City Council's current state of dysfunction has consequences we can see every day. The Señor Tequila property is one of the biggest blights on West Jefferson Street."

By early January, the Joliet City Council, led by Councilman Mike Turk, voted to declare the property a public nuisance.

On March 24, I broke the news that Joliet's legal department had filed a civil lawsuit in hopes of demolishing the Senor Tequila building at 2219 W. Jefferson St. and getting a judge's permission to bill the teardown and debris removal costs to the landowners.

During the past five days, something we never expected finally happened.

Heavy construction equipment flattened the Senor Tequila building.

By Monday evening, debris was cleared from much of the fenced-in lot.

A city of Joliet department head notified me Monday afternoon that the property owners went ahead and razed the building themselves.

Now, only the Senor Tequila advertising sign along Jefferson Street remains standing, but I have a feeling that its days are numbered too.

The following photos are what's left of Senor Tequila as of 6:15 p.m. April 5, plus one photo I took in the summer of 2018 when Senor Tequila had become a regular late-night gathering point for vagrants and drug addicts on the back area of the property.