Pekin Man Wants to Renovate West Campus
By: Sophie Nielsen-Kolding WMBD/WYZZ TV
Updated: November 2, 2012
PEKIN- Pekin's West Campus is vacant, vandalized and falling apart, but it's caught the eye of a local business owner.
Randy Price owns a business in Peking and he wants to clean up West Campus.
"The plan for West Campus is to totally restore it original," Price said.
He's already given a proposal to the city for how to do it, and city manager, Joe Wuellner said he likes the plan.
"We have been wanting someone to take care of that property for a long time," Wuellner said.
Price wants the city to take ownership of West Campus and sell it to him for $1. He said he won't buy the property for more because he'll have to pay about $2-million to renovate it.
But West Campus property manager, Josh Haflinger, said whoever buys the property will have to pay for the demolition that has already happened.
Pekin city council still has to look over the proposal, which will happen at the next meeting on November 12th.
Transforming a building is something Price has done before. His own refrigerant bottling plant is just one example.
"If it would rain you would literally have several inches on the floor where it would run into puddles," Price said as he explained the state of the building when he got it after 30 years of vacancy.
He said the old American Brewery building had no windows.
"So originally that was just like big empty holes all along the whole building," he said.
Price has renovated other buildings in town including the old town hall. Wuellner said it's given him a good reputation.
"Everything he's done has turned out great and he's got a good track record," Wuellner said.
Price said that West Campus is too special to demolish.
"We never build them like the way these are built inside. I mean the beauty of the brick, the beauty of all the detail you cannot get new buildings that way. And I would love to restore it so my kids can say, hey look at this," Price said.
He says he'd like to turn west campus into a public space.
Randy Price owns a business in Peking and he wants to clean up West Campus.
"The plan for West Campus is to totally restore it original," Price said.
He's already given a proposal to the city for how to do it, and city manager, Joe Wuellner said he likes the plan.
"We have been wanting someone to take care of that property for a long time," Wuellner said.
Price wants the city to take ownership of West Campus and sell it to him for $1. He said he won't buy the property for more because he'll have to pay about $2-million to renovate it.
But West Campus property manager, Josh Haflinger, said whoever buys the property will have to pay for the demolition that has already happened.
Pekin city council still has to look over the proposal, which will happen at the next meeting on November 12th.
Transforming a building is something Price has done before. His own refrigerant bottling plant is just one example.
"If it would rain you would literally have several inches on the floor where it would run into puddles," Price said as he explained the state of the building when he got it after 30 years of vacancy.
He said the old American Brewery building had no windows.
"So originally that was just like big empty holes all along the whole building," he said.
Price has renovated other buildings in town including the old town hall. Wuellner said it's given him a good reputation.
"Everything he's done has turned out great and he's got a good track record," Wuellner said.
Price said that West Campus is too special to demolish.
"We never build them like the way these are built inside. I mean the beauty of the brick, the beauty of all the detail you cannot get new buildings that way. And I would love to restore it so my kids can say, hey look at this," Price said.
He says he'd like to turn west campus into a public space.
