The Geneva City Council has decided not to allow demolition of the remains of a limestone structure at 4 E. State St. on the northern edge of the former Mill Race Inn property overlooking the Fox River in the city that was given local landmark status in 2018.
The Shodeen Family Foundation – owners of the property and seeking to redevelop the 1.4-acre site – applied for a permit to remove the structure’s local landmark status and demolish it on the basis it is cost prohibitive to redevelop.
The Geneva Historic Preservation Commission voted 7-0 in August to deny the application for demolition at the site, and also denied the move to take away the landmark status of the property.
Local preservation advocates and Landmarks Illinois officials have been steadfast in their position that the limestone structure is part of a former blacksmith shop dating back to the early 1840s and is worthy of saving.
However, Shodeen representatives have said the stone remnant structure on the site “consists of only three partial stone walls” and the “roof structure that exists is burned, rotted and not useable.”
The developer decided to appeal the decision of the Geneva Historic Preservation Commission to the City Council.
The aldermen’s 9-0 vote on Sept. 26 affirmed the decision of the commission.
“We appealed because there are four conditions … in order for the demolition permit to be approved,” attorney Kate McCracken representing Shodeen said.
She said the “evidence presented was sufficient” to prove that one or more of those conditions existed that would support demolition, she said.
One of those conditions requested evidence that the structure is a deterrent to a major improvement program at the site, she said.
“Unfortunately, what the evidence reflected that those individuals interested in developing the property … each of the individual entities that came to the applicant with interest in developing the property said they would not go forward with any application or any kind of development opportunity as long as the structure is there,” McCracken said.
Historic Preservation Commissioner Jewel Jensen advocated for saving the structure on behalf of the group.
“These early buildings are tied to our community’s earliest settlement and are rare resources within the Geneva community,” Jensen said. “The unassuming, modest limestone building is the earliest surviving example of the water-powered industry that once lined the Fox River.”
In an email to The Beacon-News, Shodeen Group President David Patzelt said that Shodeen is “disappointed in the City Council’s decision to deny the request to take down the stone remnant structure located at 4 E. State St.”
He wrote that the City Council, Historic Preservation Commission and city staff “are now all fully aware of the costs associated with not only the restoration of the stone remnant structure but the costs expended to try to reach some decision-making opportunity. “
“It is unfortunate that the residents of Geneva and neighboring communities that drive by this site will continue to endure the greeting that this landmark portrays to Geneva’s east side as you approach from the west and to Geneva’s downtown as you approach from the east,” he wrote.
He said the future of the site remains cloudy.
“The question remains, where do we (collectively) go from here?,” he said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
