Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Old Belleville YMCA is featured in national publication

The old downtown Belleville YMCA building is appearing nationally for July and August in Preservation magazine, a publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Jack Le Chien, chairman of the committee deciding the fate of the building, said the magazine is just out and will send about 454,000 copies around the nation, offering the building exposure to the kind of people who have a lot of experience in saving similar places.

The ad also appears on the magazine's Web site: www.preservationnation.org. The magazine ad costs $425 and features a picture in the historic properties listings along with a description and contact number.

"It is a magazine that goes out to people who have the money and will invest in historic real estate," Le Chien said. "These are people familiar with what doing one of these projects involves -- financing, tax credits and large sums of money."

He said the people at the Illinois Historic Preservation Society recommended the magazine and its Web site as one of the best vehicles for advertising.

The building is also listed under the imperiled buildings section of the Landmarks Illinois Web site: www.landmarks.org. Landmarks Illinois is an organization dedicated to saving old buildings in Illinois.

The building was built in 1923 as a Turner gymnasium. It was a YMCA from 1959 until May 2006 when the it opened a new building on South Illinois Street. The city received the old building but it has been empty since and is in bad shape with a leaky roof and bad air quality. The city estimates it will take $500,000 just to tear it down but many citizens want to save the building and make it an asset to the city.

The committee has asked local citizens for proposals to use the building that would support themselves.

Conni Tilley, owner of Catch A Rising Star school uniforms on West Main Street in downtown, offered a proposal that would make the building a children's museum using the money that would be needed to tear it down.

"I think a lot of people downtown want something that's revenue-generating rather than another parking lot," she said.

Le Chien said the committee has been seeking media attention for the project but hasn't had much luck so far.

The deadline for submitting proposals was set for July 30 in the print ad but has been pushed back until Aug. 30 to take advantage of the ad.

Jim Schneider, director of human resources, training and parks and recreation for the city, said there already have been some responses from the ad.

"A few people have called asking questions," he said. "We're hoping some outside investor could get interested in it."