The DeKalb City Council voted Monday night to buy the parcel of land on the northwest corner of Lincoln Highway and Fourth Street.

The National City Bank building currently occupying the lot will be demolished before the sale.

“The downtown revitalization planning process identifies many goals, and one of those principle goals was the acquisition of strategic parcels in our downtown area,” said DeKalb City Manager Mark Biernacki.

With the council’s approval of the purchase, DeKalb must wait for the state legislature to consider the sale during the spring 2008 session.

The city began speaking with the Illinois Department of Transportation, which currently owns and runs the building, over the summer. DeKalb would purchase the property from the state for $122,500.

Biernacki said the state will pay demolition costs, estimated to be $400,000.

“We knew [the state] always wanted to demolish the property so that they could eventually widen that right of way, but we did not know what they wanted to do in terms of the disposition of the property,” Biernacki said. “We would expect the building to be demolished in the summer of 2008.”

The council also approved a plan to entice a yet-unnamed company considering a move to DeKalb.

Biernacki told the council the specific plan would need to be created after the business has made itself known to city officials and appropriate hearings held.

The business requested a tax abatement and fee waiver plan. Background information provided to the council states the business would create a distribution center in Park 88, near the I-88/Peace Road interchange, and invest about $40 million in real estate and operating equipment.

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