BY BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
After a slow period, activity is picking up on the process of turning a downtown Decatur eyesore into an office building.
Eventually, the onetime Faurote building at 138 N. Second St. will become the office of the Adams County Economic Development Corp. (ACEDC).
The City of Decatur, which owns the building, recently approved and signed a lease agreement with the ACEDC.
“Basically, they okayed the architectural drawings we had done and that allows us to move forward,” said Colton Bickel, executive director of the ACEDC.
“We hope that is the last hurdle so we can put it out for bids in July, or maybe early August. It’s taken longer than we wanted, but that (receiving bids) should give us a better timeline.”
Last February, city council approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ACEDC on the building.
The city obtained a state READI grant of $290,000 to put toward the upgrade of the building and the ACEDC, through its own funds and some private donations, will add somewhere around $600,000 to the project.
Once all the work is completed, the ACEDC will be moving in and setting up its office in the building. The office is currently located in the Adams County Service Complex at Third and Jefferson streets.
The ACEDC will own the two-story building and will lease an unattached portion in the back to the city, which will use it for much-needed storage.
The condition of the building first came to light some three years ago. It had been deteriorating for years and had become a safety problem.
In a special meeting in late November of 2021, building owner Paul Faurote agreed to deed the property to the city at no charge.
A lengthy check determined that the building was extremely unsafe.
Council later spent over $150,000 to have Limberlost Construction Co. of Geneva secure the building. That included braces over an alley between the structure and the building to the south, which houses Monster Pizza.