The Toastmaster Building in Algonquin might receive a new lease on life as senior citizen housing or as a home to retail shops and lofts under proposals being looked at by the building’s new owner.
Ownership of the 92-year-old former factory building at 401 W. Washington St. was taken over by Texas Star Homes earlier this month. Texas Star took over after its former owner, Blue Sky Investment, defaulted on a settlement agreement reached last year in federal bankruptcy court in Rockford. Texas Star is a subsidiary of Mirage Development Corp. of Las Vegas.
Future plans for the building depend on a feasibility study and a local demographics study to determine what would be successful there. Mirage hopes to have the building occupied within 18 months, said Bob Bueker, director of development for Mirage.
“Although the facility is a bit large, we’re considering retrofitting it to house a combination of assisted living and independent living (for seniors),” Bueker said.
Another option for the building would be to develop it for retail space, residential lofts and spaces for local artists, Bueker said.
Cleanup of the building started recently and the company intends to pay $292,657 in back taxes owed to the county, repair the roof, replace windows and bring the building up to the standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act, Bueker said.
“There’s just a tremendous amount of intrinsic value in the property,” Bueker said. “So much so that it would not make economic sense to raze the building and put a new one up.”
According to Shelly Kulwin, an attorney for Texas Star in the bankruptcy case, Texas Star took possession of the building because Blue Sky violated provisions of an agreement approved by the Bankruptcy Court, including allowing liens to be placed on the property.
According to records filed with the McHenry County recorder of deeds office, a $4,301 lien was placed on the building by an Elgin company that installed a fire alarm and sprinkler system.
A listed number for Blue Sky has been disconnected, and its bankruptcy attorney, James Stevens, could not be reached for comment.
Algonquin moved last year to permanently close the Toastmaster Building, citing code violations. All that kept the building open was the agreement, reached last Sept. 10, in which Blue Sky agreed to make some repairs and to make payments every month to Texas Star, holder of a $580,000 mortgage on the building.
Blue Sky President William Lensch went to court to evict some of the tenants from the building for non-payment of rent, while others left voluntarily. Nine tenants remain in the Toastmaster Building.
Bueker said that he met with some of the tenants to talk about future plans.
“We want to work with the existing tenants so their ability to conduct business is not impaired,” Bueker said.
Scott DeGenova, owner of one of the tenants, Custom Veneered Interiors, said the tenants don’t know what kind of leases might be offered or how much the rent would be.
However, DeGenova said the situation for the tenants has improved, because when Blue Sky owned the building, tenants feared the village could come on any given day and close it.
“I’ve been guaranteed by Texas Star they would give me a minimum of six months’ notice,” DeGenova said. “That is a much better position than I’ve been in before.”
Lensch and Blue Sky also owned a portion of another McHenry County building, the multistory section of the former Starline factory in Harvard, which was to be converted into town homes and apartments. That part of the building was damaged by fire in 1994.
The city has approval from a county judge to demolish the multistory section, and options are being looked at to finance tearing that portion down, said Harvard City Atty. David McArdle.
