Local - Front 'N Center getting a face-lift - Downtown Bloomington, IL

BLOOMINGTON -- Several tenants in downtown’s Front ’N Center Building are being evicted and the building’s owner says he intends to redevelop the property. Four tenants, including the Bloomington Antique Mall and an attorney’s office, are being asked to leave the building at 102 N. Center St. by July 1. Building owner Merle Huff, a Peoria-area developer, said he wants to redevelop the building into “high quality” restaurants. Illinois Brewing Co. and the U.S. Post Office will remain in the building as will those renting apartments on the third and fourth floors, Huff said. “I was not making enough in rent to pay the utilities,” Huff said. “And these tenants (who were asked to move) were in places where we couldn’t work around them.” Plans to redevelop the building include Ben Slotky’s proposed restaurant, Your Mother’s. Slotky, the owner of the downtown Castle Theater, received a restaurant liquor license for the property from the city earlier this month. Huff once owned the Castle, 209 E. Washington St., and his children sold the building to Slotky. Huff purchased the Ensenberger building, 212 N. Center St., in 1997. It is currently being renovated into about 28 condominiums with first-floor retail space as part of a $9 million project developed by Ward Waller. The Front ’N Center Building is collateral for the $2.2 million the city is providing in redevelopment money for the Ensenberger project. The rest of the Ensenberger project is being financed through loans Huff has co-signed with Waller. City Manager Tom Hamilton said Huff’s plans to evict tenants and redevelop the Front ’N Center Building do not change the Front ’N Center Building’s status as collateral.“We are in it for the value of the building,” Hamilton said. Huff said he would like to see such eateries as a grill-your-own-steak restaurant in addition to Slotky’s planned family bar and grill. Front 'N Center getting a face-lift - Click here for full story. By M.K. Gueterslohmkguetersloh@pantagraph.com Appraisal , Real Estate , Bloomington , McLean , Illinois