Illinois city plans building demo

An abandoned seven-story building in Rockford, Illinois, is in the crosshairs of that city’s government, which would like to see the structure demolished to improve access to a city park.

Although the city was preparing to allocate as much a $3.1 million to take down the Founder’s Landing building, also known as the Lorden Building, the Rockford Register Star reports the Rockford City Council has awarded a  $1.4 million demolition contract to Loves Park, Illinois-based N-Trak Group.

According to an earlier news report from WIFR-TV, the mayor of Rockford is among those eager to take down the Lorden Building, which sits next to Davis Park in the city’s downtown.

The mayor and an alderman in Rockford are quoted as saying Davis Park has been underutilized during its nearly 30 years of existence, and the mayor places part of the blame on the presence of the abandoned building.

“You look over there you see this old, dilapidated building sitting in the center,” WIRF quotes Mayor Thomas McNamara as saying. “We’re going to be opening up the views of the Rock River,” he says of the planned demolition project.

Davis Park has at times been a concert venue, with additional plans calling for an amphitheater, a skate park and “urban beach [with] splash pads,” according to the mayor.

The seven-story building in question, constructed as a hosiery factory and later a furniture warehouse, has “been vacant for more than 25 years,” according to WIFR.

An archived Rockford Public Library article says a storage firm converted the 48,000-square-foot building into a warehouse in 1951. The building’s listing on Emporis.com indicates it was built in 1917 and 1918 and is made predominantly of concrete.

Contractor N-Trak is a as a woman-owned and operated business that provides underground construction, earthwork, road reconstruction, concrete construction, demolition, mobile crushing and aggregate and asphalt production services.