Demolition begins on Joliet’s White Store building

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

JOLIET — A crane armed with a clam bucket sank its teeth into the White Store at 8:11 a.m. Monday and began chipping away at the century-old building’s bricks.

Most onlookers were glad to see the White Store go.

“Out with the old, in with the new,” said Gary Reader of Joliet Township as he watched smoke-belching machinery bite into the building.

The four-story structure at the southwest corner of Chicago and Webster streets should be completely razed in about 20 days, said Scott Russ, project manager for J. Russ and Co. of Lockport.

Joliet Junior College purchased the White Store building last year to make way for a new downtown campus building that could be 10 stories tall and cost $42 million. The building will house JJC’s culinary arts, hospitality and adult education programs.

Better or bittersweet?

Pat Reimer and her husband, Ken, have operated Chicken-N-Spice across Webster Street from the White Store since 1979.

“Look,” Pat said as she extended her arm. “I’ve got goosebumps. I truly do.”

She’s thrilled to see the dilapidated White Store disappear and is happy to feed construction workers and the 500 or so students the new building will house.

“I’m so looking forward to progress in downtown Joliet and a new image for the 21st century,” she said. “It was a box, just a plain old ugly box that’s going to be replaced by something awesome.”

JJC employees who work in the adjacent Louis Joliet Renaissance Center had a bird’s-eye view of the demolition.

“It’s an eyesore,” said JJC Workforce Development Director Sandy Mol as she watched bricks tumble to the ground outside her office window. “I’ve been in this building 21 years and it’s exciting to see that building go.”

Downtown JJC employees have been waiting a long time for better quarters for their programs.

“There are a lot of students who come in and out of this building and they need a better building,” said Lori Halliday of Coal City, who works for the school’s adult services division.

Only Roosevelt University professor Mike Bryson, who grew up in Joliet and remembers shopping in the White Store, seemed sad to see the White Store go.

“I’m just trying to take in the scene,” he said as he watched chunks being torn from the building’s roof. “It’s not every day you see a building come down, and it’s a bittersweet moment.”

Bryson, who writes a monthly Common Sense column for The Herald-News’ opinion page, said it would have been nice to see the building preserved, but if JJC is going to build something new, he hopes it is architecturally interesting and harmonious with downtown Joliet “so that the design isn’t a repetition of the 1960s-style courthouse that we’re currently stuck with, which I don’t think anybody agrees is an architectural gem,” he said. “It’s not a pretty building.”

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.

Building’s history

The White Store moved into the building in October 1938 and sold apparel, furnishings, sporting goods and groceries. It closed in 1980. Turk Furniture used the building as a warehouse until July 2009.

In November 2008, JJC 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 said bringing the building up to code would be too costly.