After losing in court last month over the condition of a circa-1840 stone blacksmith shop in Geneva, developer Shodeen filed its third request Oct. 31 to raze the structure.

The filing was made available to Shaw Local News Network, but is not yet posted as a public document on the city’s website. A notice of an upcoming public hearing is posted on the site, but no date has been set yet.

The structure, part of the former Mill Race Inn property at 4 E. State St., is located at the southwest corner of Illinois routes 38 and 25, or State and Bennett streets.

Preservationists thwarted a request in 2018, obtaining a landmark designation for the structure to protect it from demolition. Known as the Alexander Brothers Blacksmith Shop, the remnant limestone structure is one of the oldest-surviving commercial buildings in Geneva, representing part of its industrial past.

In 2023, the Geneva City Council denied a second request for demolition, as preservationists continued to lobby for the structure to be repurposed.

In the past year, Shodeen and the city were in a protracted legal battle over the developer’s refusal to put a tarp over the top of the structure to protect it from the weather.

Kane County Judge Elizabeth Flood ruled Oct. 2 against the developer’s request for her to reverse the city’s adjudicator’s ruling – upholding that the city had the legal right to enforce its property code ordinance against the developer. The adjudicator had ruled that a $750-per-day fine, which began Oct. 17, 2024, would stand. As of Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, – 385 days later – the fine is $288,750.

Former Mill Race Inn site

The Mill Race Land Company LLC – created by Shodeen for that property – filed the papers to the city’s preservation planner and the planning division of the community development department.

They include a demolition permit and historic property demolition requests. City ordinances allow demolition of historic structures if the owner has no other alternatives.

The filing details that the cost of repurposing the old structure would be in excess of $1,000 per square foot, far more than other properties’ cost, ranging from $96 per square foot for 12 E. State St. to 132 per square foot for 34 N. Bennett St.

At earlier hearings, preservationists argued that Shodeen chose the most expensive way to create a retail space there, when less costly alternatives exist.

The structure also cannot be moved. And without any known sites within the historic district, there is nowhere to move it anyway, according to the filing.

The filing also cites the city’s own Downtown Station Area Master Plan, which includes 4 E. State St., intended to guide change and growth in the city for the next 10 to 15 years.

“The concept did not include the preservation of any existing structures,” the filing stated. “Some buildings identified for preservation due to designation or some distinctive qualities desired by the community to remain. The stone remnant structure was not one of them.”

The 1.4-acre site is in the Geneva Fox River Tax Increment Finance District. A tax increment financing district – known as a TIF – is a development tool local governments use to encourage development or redevelopment in blighted areas that would be too expensive to improve with private dollars alone, according to the filing.

“This TIF district intends to provide the mechanisms necessary to support public and private development, strengthen the Fox River area as a neighborhood-level commercial and residential district and improve connections to downtown and to the Fox River.”

Local support for demolition

The former Mill Race Inn site is 1.4 acres. Shodeen bought the corner business, the Geneva Cycle Shop, 12 E. State St., last year, for $1 million, Geneva Township property records show. That property is 0.39 of an acre – making the whole corner 1.79 contiguous acres, records show.

The Mill Race Inn was an iconic restaurant in Geneva, which closed in 2011.

Shodeen bought the property from Plaza Bank for $550,000 March 1, 2014, using a different LLC entity, according to Kane County property records.

Shodeen President David Patzelt, who filed the paperwork to raze the structure, included a letter of support from Joel Erickson, who served on the Geneva Plan Commission from 2002 to 2015.

“It is time to move on before we reach two full decades without a resolution,” Erickson wrote. “As a condition of the demolition approval perhaps a requirement to commemorate the building location with a plaque or small memorial could be required.”

David Rogers, also a former plan commission member, wrote that he supports the city’s historic heritage.

“However, I see no reason to allow the controversial former blacksmith shop on the Mill Race site, a structure that is in such severe disrepair that it offers no practical use, to block a potential major economic stimulus for downtown Geneva,” according to Roger’s letter.

The tarp or the fine

Regarding the battle over the property maintenance, Patzelt said the issue is not a tarp or a fine.

“The issue is this site has been identified in the Comprehensive Plan, also in the Downtown Station Area Master Plan and in the Geneva Fox River TIF district to be redeveloped,” Patzelt said. “And the alleged historic structure stands in the way of the redevelopment of the site. We – including the city and the developer and the property owner – need to address the issue and that is how do we redevelop this site?”

Kendra Parzen, advocacy manager for Landmarks Illinois, a nonprofit that promotes historic preservation, said, the agency will be awaiting the public hearing.

“The Geneva Historic Preservation Commission and the city of Geneva affirmed that this building is, in fact, historic,” Parzen said. “I hope if and when this comes to public hearing, we will hear from Mr. Patzelt and Shodeen representatives about conversations about using TIF funds. That is where this conversaton left off.”

Parzen was referring to the last set of public hearings in 2023 where Consultants Teska Associates and The Planera Group testified that it would take $1.7 million in TIF money to make the project work.

“We conclude that the reuse of the historic building as a standalone project is a viable alternative as part of a public private partnership,” Scott Goldstein of Teska and Associates said at a June 2023 hearing.

Patzelt disputed that, saying the site of the former blacksmith shop would not generate enough TIF dollars because it doesn’t have enough value.

The increments from a TIF come from increased sales tax or property value, which go into a special fund under the city’s control, rather than local taxing bodies.

“It would great if TIF dollars can be used,” Patzelt said. “But if it doesn’t generate TIF dollars, then we can’t use them.”

Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley, which had opposed demolition in the past, said in a statement that it would be premature to comment beyond this:

“The former blacksmith shop is a rare building connected to the early part of Geneva’s story. We are disappointed to learn that the owner has submitted another demolition application for this historic landmark.”