After years of wrangling, disagreements and lawsuits, it appears the old, dilapidated Rock Island County Courthouse will finally be demolished.
The city of Rock Island recently issued a demolition permit for the 105,000-square-foot, four-story structure at 210 15th St., to Valley Construction of Rock Island. The permit is effective through Sept. 30, 2023.
“The city has always held that once the county could demonstrate compliance with the law, the city would be obligated to issue the demolition permit,” Rock Island Community and Economic director Miles Brainard said Monday.
“The documents provided by the county sufficiently demonstrate compliance with the law and so the city has issued the demolition permit. The city cannot deny a complete and otherwise lawful application for a permit,” he said. “The permit is valid for six months, but staff do not know a more specific timeframe for completion.
“The city has always maintained and continues to maintain that it takes no position on the demolition,” Brainard said.
In 2018, before the new $28-million Rock Island County Justice Center expansion opened behind the old courthouse, the county board voted to demolish the former courthouse, which was dedicated in March 1897, to make way for green space.
In March 2019, Judge Walter Braud of the 14th Circuit Court ruled that the courthouse be taken down immediately. Immediately after that ruling. Landmarks Illinois filed an injunction with the 14th Circuit Court — stating that the courthouse could not be immediately demolished and that the county needed to follow the State Historic Preservation Act.
After the 14th District Court then recused itself, in August 2020, the State Appellate Court in Ottawa then ruled that the county was indeed subject to the provisions of the State Historic Preservation Act.
Following that court ruling, negotiations were conducted between attorneys for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the county.
The Memorandum of Agreement reached between the IDNR and county attorneys, in September 2021, required only that the county conduct a recordation of the building prior to its demolition.
A lawsuit to stop the demolition was upheld by the State Appeals Court, but in March 2021, the county denied an offer to buy the building – made by developer Joe Lemon of Bettendorf. He made a $500,000 purchase offer with the agreement to spend an addition $8 million to refurbish the building.
That offer included potentially leasing it to the federal government for use as a Federal District Courthouse. Some board members wanted to amend a section of the proposal that would allow the county to take back ownership if the General Services Administration (GSA) would refuse the proposal.
That lost by a few votes, which ultimately influenced those county board members to make their decision to vote against the agreement. A new federal courthouse is being built a few blocks away downtown, at the northwest corner of 18th Street and 4th Avenue.
