PEORIA, Ill. – It’s been a little more than a month since the Riverview Plaza building in downtown Peoria was shut down, and little progress has been made on needed work to reopen it.
Last month, water was seen across the street coming from the plaza, which led to the discovery of numerous repairs the building needed. On Monday, moving trucks were seen at the building.
Peoria Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger says numerous systems in the building needed to be repaired or replaced; including the fire alarm system, sprinkler system, and a standing water pipe system.
Sollberger says the city has reached out to the building’s owner numerous times to arrange work to be done, but those talks have been one-sided.
“We feel like from a city perspective we’ve done our due-diligence, our phone lines are open. But we also know that there’s 4,000 commercial addresses in the city of Peoria, so we have to move on to our daily function,” Sollberger said. “We’ll be there for them if they feel like they need us, but at this particular point, there hasn’t been any communication with them.”
Sollberger says there are still daily visits to the building from the fire department or community development.
He says while there isn’t as much urgency now, he says if the problems continue to linger for months, the building could run into problems such as whether the heating and cooling system works, structural integrity, and if there’s more leaks.
Sollberger says there’s no word yet on how much it would cost or how long it would take for the repairs or replacements.
The only tenant currently operating in the building is Chase Bank on the first floor, the only floor that people are being allowed into.
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