A downtown commercial property is causing increased public safety concerns after its roof collapsed inside its brick walls.

Surrounded by fencing for public safety and with outside elements freely entering the property, the city is seeking an owner willing and able to rehabilitate the structure.

If one cannot be found within the next 30 to 60 days – at most, officials said – the city will purchase it through a tax sale for about $800.

At that point, the only alternative will be demolition – a costly, taxpayer-funded demolition, Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis said.

Demolition of this structure likely will cost $100,000 to $150,000.

But, Curtis said, this is a structure that simply cannot be allowed to stand.

The city has a list of interested buyers. Curtis said if the property is purchased, strict timelines will be put in place to make sure a speedy rehab is completed on at least the roof.

He said an extended, languishing rehab will not be allowed. The building will need to be at least weatherproofed in no more than a 12-month timeframe.

Deemed a significant public safety risk, the Kankakee administration only recently had access to the property, which is restricted after a temporary chain-link fence was put in around the perimeter of 591-599 E. Court St.

The location was best known as the Salvation Army Thrift Store, but the store closed perhaps as long as 10 years ago.

The property has been vacant since.

A Peotone-based company, Integrity Crane, had been the owner, but the company said this week that it is no longer the owner and has not been for at least the past two years.

The property is not yet in the city’s possession. It is up for sale through back taxes. The city, however, has a deed restriction on the location, meaning it has a say regarding the sale.

Meanwhile, the brick, three-story property, which sits immediately east of The Salvation Army’s headquarters at the northeast corner of North Harrison Avenue and East Court Street, remains standing.

It also remains a deep concern for the city administration, Curtis said.

At the conclusion of Monday’s Kankakee City Council meeting, Curtis and city attorney Dawn Landwehr updated council members on the status of this 1st Ward property.

Landwehr noted in May 2024 that Kankakee code enforcement officers began assessing fines for the property’s building code and safety violations. So far, $16,000 worth of fines have been written.

The property has been up for sale since September 2025, she added. To date, no one has stepped forward. Curtis said a couple of interested parties had looked at the location.

Regarding the building’s rehab, Curtis said a strict timeline would be adhered to regarding this location.

Basically, this is not a renovation that can languish, he said, meaning it cannot be a rehab project put on the back burner.

The administration doesn’t want to see buildings torn down, city leadership noted, but there is a strong likelihood this property may be well past rehabilitation.

“We are not going to hand this over to anyone,” Landwehr said. “They must have the resources to rehab it.”

A complete rehab would most certainly run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“It would be a very hard hill to climb,” he said.