The Kankakee Regional Land Bank Authority is looking to build on the momentum it has gained in the past six months as it acquires more properties that eventually can be put back onto the tax rolls.

The Land Bank met this past Tuesday and discussed its strategic plan while also approving improvements to several recently acquired properties in an effort to make them marketable to investors.

“We discussed at one of our previous meetings … but the idea is that those properties would be more marketable if they had a little bit of rehab done,” said Brian White, interim executive director of the KRLBA. “Since we have access to grant money, we decided to go ahead and do some of those things.”

White added that the majority of the work is to replace roofs on the houses.

“A property actually deteriorates very quickly if the roof is bad, so most of these properties need new roofs,” he said.

Getting those properties marketable to investors and sold is just part of the strategic plan.

“It took some time, but the system is in place,” White said.

Board member Joe Nugent said the Land Bank is getting a number of rehabs done.

“We have a better plan of action going forward,” he said. “It did take so long to get off the ground.”

Board members said there was a learning curve on the processes it had to take on getting the necessary paperwork done to acquire properties.

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” said Lisa Sanford, Board president.

Board member Barbi Brewer-Watson, who is also the executive director of the Economic and Community Development Agency for the city of Kankakee, said she would like to see the Land Bank be an integral part of Kankakee County on the same level as the Economic Alliance.

“We’ve got a lot going on [at the city], and the Land Bank is part of that,” she said. “... We have a lot of work to do.”

White said the Land Bank is finding its footing of where it fits in the community and what its purpose is. For instance, why is there blight and how do we address it?

“What is the problem we’re solving?” he said.

The Land Bank has been working with Teska Associates Inc., of Evanston, on developing the strategic plan. The planning work by Teska is being covered through a grant.

“Abandonment [of homes] is a problem just about everywhere in the state,” said Scott Goldstein, a principal professional with Teska.

White said getting those abandoned properties back on the market is paramount. The grant program through the Illinois Housing Development Authority is working.

“When the project is completed, we will pay the contractors, and then we will go get reimbursed for the cost of the work,” he said. “We then sell the property to somebody, and we could ask them to reimburse us those costs, or we could just treat them as separate. But the basic idea is really focused more about will it take to improve the property.”

Contract work was approved on the following recently-acquired properties:

• Cleanout of debris at 242 S. Entrance Ave., 1065 S. Fourth Ave. and 241 W. Hickory St. for $8,100 to Touch of Glass of Bradley.
• Replacement of roof, gutters, downspouts, and soffits/facia at 241 W. Hickory for $28,265 to N&I Roofing of Bonfield.
• Replacement of roof, gutters, downspouts, and soffits/facia at 242 S. Entrance Ave. for $19,724 to Anytime Roofing Repair of Bradley.
• Replacement of roof, gutters, downspouts, and soffits/facia at 1065 S. Fourth Ave. for $17,112 to Anytime Roofing Repair.
• Replacement of foundation and grading of exterior at 360 S. Elm Ave. for $40,000 to Villas Concrete & Waterproofing of Kankakee.
• Replacement of roof, gutters, downspouts, and soffits/facia at 360 S. Elm Ave. for $18,619 to Anytime Roofing Repair.
• Replacement of roof, gutters, downspouts, and soffits/facia at 762 Webster Circle E. for $8,300 to Rick Jones Construction of Kankakee.

Jaffe building

The Land Bank received an undisclosed offer on the former Jaffe Drugs commercial building at 217 E. Court St. in Kankakee, but it wasn’t immediately accepted.

“We’re negotiating,” Board member Randy Chaplinski said.

The Jaffe building is listed at $99,900.

“The offer was not acceptable, but it could be,” White said.