Facade work on Jaffe building approved

Soon, there could be sidewalk dining in the 200 block of East Court Street after the Kankakee Regional Land Bank Authority approved facade work on the former Jaffe Drugs building.

Currently, there’s a sidewalk barricade in front of 217 E. Court St. in Kankakee to prevent debris from falling on pedestrians. The Land Bank acquired the property in December and is in the process of getting the building cleaned up and sold.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Land Bank’s board of directors unanimously approved a proposal by PSI Construction of Kankakee for $10,221 to fix the building’s facade. Once the work is done, it will allow the 8 One Five Downtown Lounge to offer outdoor dining.

“This is what the city wants to see ... to feel comfortable that, ‘Yes, we can remove the [barricade],’ ” board Chairman Lisa Sanford said.

Board member Barbi Brewer-Watson reported that the PSI estimate proposes to reflash the south parapet wall and tie it into the existing EPDM roofing, provide and install new sheet metal coping over existing stone parapet cap insides, and remove and dispose of the barricade.

Additionally, PSI included an allowance of $1,000 for masonry repair if necessary.

“They don’t think it will be much, but they’d like to have that $1,000 allowance for masonry,” she said.

Brewer-Watson said that the city’s Department of Public Works will remove and dispose of the barricade, so there may be some additional savings on the total cost.

The board agreed that it was a reasonable estimate from PSI to fix the problem and get rid of the barricade that has become an eyesore.

“We’ve asked them to do something that’s really pretty almost nebulous here, in that we just want you to get it to where we can be safe, taking the barricade away,” board member Matt Olszewski said. “... This is what they’re recommending to make it secure and safe.”

Olszewski added that getting the barricade removed shows the public that the Land Bank is getting something done. Board member Joe Nugent said it could recoup that expense in the sale of the property.

PSI is expected to start the repair work in the next two weeks, Brewer-Watson said.

More on the cleanup

Brewer-Watson also reported that Midwest Environmental, the company contracted to remove and dispose of all the old prescriptions left in the Jaffe building, wants to start the cleanup within four weeks. The company is requesting some coordination from the Drug Enforcement Administration before anything is removed.

There also are stacks of papers that have people’s names on them, including old prescription forms.

“Those have to be shredded,” Brewer-Watson said. “[Midwest Environmental] does not want to be in there removing drugs when there’s all these documents and people’s names on it and things like that. I don’t know all of that reason, but they felt that they should have been shredded. It’s also in the way.”

She said the paper can be staged up front by the door, and the shred truck can complete the process.

“The environmental team did say worst-case scenario, it might take them 10 days,” Brewer-Watson said. “It just depends on the different drug classifications that are still in there, required oversight and removal. There’s instructions for how to do all that. There are chemicals involved [in the cleanup].”