Farewell to White Store

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The White Store building has been purchased by Joliet Junior College. The existing building will be torn down in January, a new building will be built to house JJC's culinary arts program.

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Updated: April 19, 2011 5:33AM

JOLIET — It’s time to say goodbye to the White Store, which has stood in the heart of downtown for more than 100 years.

The four-story building at 235 Chicago St. will be torn down in January. Joliet Junior College purchased the building earlier this year to make way for a downtown campus center adjacent to the school’s Louis Joliet Renaissance Center building at 214 N. Ottawa St.

The first stage of demolition will involve asbestos removal in the White Store building’s floors and pipes, said Scott Russ, project manager for J. Russ and Co. of Lockport, which will be paid $372,500 for the demolition and asbestos removal work.

Asbestos removal should be underway by next week. About the second week in January, a crane with a clam bucket will start taking giant bites out of the building’s higher levels. A protective fence will be erected around the building prior to demolition. A grapple will be used to demolish the lower levels. Demolition could take about 20 days, Russ said.

Anyone who is interested in observing the demolition project from the warmth of their home can view the work by clicking on a construction link on the school’s website, www.jjc.edu, said Pat Van Duyne, JJC director of facility services. A camera mounted on the old Sheraton Hotel building that houses JJC adult education classes will record all of the work.

“After it’s all said and done, we’ll do a time-lapse video,” Van Duyne said.

Workers will try to salvage and recycle as many materials as possible from the building, Russ said. For instance, bricks and wood from the building will be reused where possible, excluding items tainted by asbestos. The neon White Store sign on the front of the building also will be salvaged.

Route 66 posters in the store’s windows have already been saved and probably will be donated to the nearby Joliet Area Historical Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center.

Once the White Store building is down, the basement will be shored up for use during construction of the new campus center building. A groundbreaking for that project will be April 26, said JJC spokeswoman Kelly Rohder.

The final design of the new building has not been determined, but it could be a 10-story building able to house adult education, culinary arts and hospitality programs. The project is expected to cost $42 million and JJC officials are waiting to see if they’ll receive a $21 million grant from the state to help pay for construction. If the state money doesn’t come through, the project could be scaled back.

In November 2008, the school passed an $89 million referendum to fund a variety of projects; $15 million from that fund has been set aside for the downtown campus.

Members of the Joliet Historic Preservation Commission urged JJC to try to save the White Store instead of tearing it down, but school officials decided bringing the building up to code would be too costly.

Joliet City Manager Tom Thanas said the building sat neglected for 30 years and would have been expensive to rehab.

“We understood the college’s position.”

Through the years the building housed a factory, a Turk furniture warehouse and retail operations.

The White Store moved into the building, previously called the Sweet-Orr building, in October 1938, according to Herald-News archives. The store — which sold apparel, furnishings, sporting goods and groceries — closed in 1980. Turk Furniture used the building as a warehouse until July 2009.

The city of Joliet bought the building from Turk Furniture for $550,000. JJC bought the building from the city for $480,000. The city’s help was needed because state law prohibits a community college from paying more than the highest appraised value for property, in this case the $480,000.

Tom Mahalik, vice president of the Joliet City Center Partnership, said it will be sad to see the White Store building disappear from the landscape.

“But we’re excited about the expansion of the junior college programs, especially the culinary arts program,” he said. “It’s a nationally recognized program and we’re proud to have them downtown.”

Having an estimated 500 JJC students on site will add a lot of foot traffic to downtown establishments, he added.

Thanas agreed.

“It will be a key piece of our effort to redevelop downtown Joliet,” he said.

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