Dumb Ideas Dept.: City May Buy and Demolish Sim's Bowl

 

Why is the city so obsessed with putting more development on this block? The last council almost allowed a gargantuan condo building, the Arredia administration kept talking about vague "entertainment" proposals that were never made public. Even in the 80s there was a big condo proposal that never flew. The senior tower itself went through a series of proposals before something eventually went up.

City Eyes Sims Site: Under $1 Million Asking Price May Be 'Cheap', But Not All On Council Agree

WE DID THIS BEFORE AND IT DIDN'T WORK. In 1985, the historic core of downtown, Ellinwood Street between Pearson and Lee, was torn out in the hopes of redevelopment. Instead we got a gravel parking lot for almost 15 years until Library Plaza came along, and that went through a series of proposals before a working one was found. In the meantime, what had been a struggling strip of stores choked out by the Behrel Parking deck was replaced by a gravel lot that nobody walked through, because nobody likes walking through an empty lot. The Behrel deck was a Berlin Wall that divided downtown north and south; that empty lot was an invisible barrier further separating the east and west of downtown. It made a bad situation that much worse. And if that bad call hadn't been made, we might have rehabilitated historic buildings instead of the glorified strip malls to either side of the library. Leaving a parking lot (parking for what, exactly?) puts up one more barrier between people and  businesses like Oliveti's.

The citizens and the market have made it clear that downtown doesn't need more condos any time soon. What downtown needs is places to go and things to do. The focus on reviving downtown has been on restaurants and entertainment - attractions, not just condos. There's nothing wrong with having a bowling alley downtown, it's one more entertainment option. Sim's was tired and not totally inviting; it has potential to be fixed up and relaunched as a retro bowling alley and cocktail lounge. Why waste money to throw away that option?

Tearing down buildings in hopes of development puts the city in a desperate position. With no building, and especially city-owned property, there is much less property tax generated, and the city is forced to take whatever a developer comes up with. If you want quality development, you raise the bar.

The city has to spend its money wisely instead of throwing it into a landfill. Spend the money to make downtown better, not to tear it down. If the city wants to control what happens there, it should try to purchase an option on the property and work to find a developer, for a bowling alley or something else. There's no sense in throwing away your resources. Use the TIF to reverse blight, not create it.

 Des Plaines Journal

Story posted Friday, December 11, 2009

City Eyes Sims Site

Under $1 Million Asking Price May Be 'Cheap', But Not All On Council Agree

By TODD WESSELL Journal & Topics Editor

The city of Des Plaines is in the process of purchasing the former downtown Sims Bowl property on Ellinwood Street east of Pearson Street. However, not all aldermen support the idea...