A city of Joliet‘s lease on the former Joliet Correctional Center property expired nearly two years ago.

The terms of the lease with the state of Illinois presumably have been extended during negotiations for a renewal.

The lease expired in December 2023, according to city spokeswoman Rosemaria DiBenedetto.

City officials expect to have lease renewal negotiations completed “in the near future,” according to a statement issued last week.

In the meantime, pending state legislation aims to break up city control of the entire property.

Senate Bill 1698 would put 149 acres of undeveloped land on the prison site under the ownership of the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

The proposed legislation breaks up the property, state Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, said last week at a community meeting on the future of the site.

“The state wants to get rid of the property,” Ventura said. “How they get rid of the property has not been clarified.”

City officials have not discussed details of their negotiations with the state and whether they would consider breaking up the prison property now overseen by Joliet, according to past terms of the lease.

City involvement has been mainly with the former prison, now called Old Joliet Prison and managed by the Joliet Area Historical Museum for tours and events, and the Old Joliet Haunted Prison, a privately operated haunted house in a separate women’s prison on the site.

The 149 acres has become a sore spot with neighbors, who say it attracts dumping and other questionable activity without strict oversight by the city.

A disc golf group, at times at odds with neighbors, is trying to convert a portion of the 149 acres into a disc golf course.

The forest preserve district has had a plan for trails, fishing and parking on the land since 2019, Colleen Novander, director of planning and land preservation for the district, said at last week’s community meeting.

“We still see a high value in preserving the land and making it open space,” Novander said.

She also said the forest preserve district is “not against disc golf.”

Joliet City Attorney Todd Lenzie last week would not comment on details of the lease negotiations.

“These discussions have been productive, and the city anticipates that a lease extension will be finalized in the near future,” Lenzie said in an emailed statement.

State Rep. Larry Walsh, D-Elwood, said at the community meeting he also expected the lease to be renewed soon.

“The lease is probably going to be signed in the next month,” Walsh told the gathering at the meeting.

The city has had a lease on the prison property since 2017. The state closed the Joliet Correctional Center in 2002.