Is John Bays About To Embark On His Greatest Joliet Achievement?

JOLIET — In what could go down as one of the greatest redevelopment projects ever undertaken in recent decades, Joliet's most prolific commercial real estate investor, John Bays, has acquired the Joliet Housing Authority's Murphy Building, at 311 N. Ottawa St., in the heart of downtown Joliet.

On Thursday afternoon, Bays and his crews from Bays Investments were busy taking ownership of their new land, cutting down overgrown trees and shrubbery. This is going to be a giant project for Bays, in many ways.

He met with Joliet Patch's editor at the property, which is 311 N. Ottawa St. Bays said he spent $4.65 million to acquire the Joliet Housing Authority property, and he intends to spend another $10 million to remodel the inside of the building.

For years, senior citizens on low-to-moderate incomes lived inside the Murphy Building.

Joliet Patch: "Do you have a name for the building yet?"

John Bays: "I haven't really thought of it. Two or three people have called me already who wants to call it Bays Towers. But I'm just not sure because the size of the apartments, I wish they were a bit larger. They are studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom."

Patch: "Realistically, how soon would you like to have people living in here?

John Bays: "Well, I'm hoping maybe four to five months. I won't be able to do every floor by that time but I think I will have at least six or seven floors ready for people to move into."

Joliet Patch: "This will be a huge deal for downtown Joliet, right?"

John Bays: "I'm considering moving into this building myself. On the 13th floor, and build me my condo on the 13th floor. The apartments in here now, I don't think have been upgraded for 20 years so they will get brand-new bathrooms, brand-new kitchens, everything's going to be new, except the walls.

"I'm going to make the place as clean and nice and I will have maintained this place in a beautiful condition."

At the moment, the building is empty, and Bays said he fully expects to open 140 apartments within the 13-story building geared for working professionals — just like he did with the top two floors of his Two Rialto Square Building, at the corner of Chicago and Clinton Streets, several blocks away.

"Well, I bought it and I've been trying to help the city rebuild downtown," Bays told Joliet Patch. "And we're going to rebuild the whole building inside and out.

"We're going to try to make it real nice apartments for people that afford it."

Patch asked if the Murphy Building apartments will be similar to his 20 loft apartments that occupy the fifth and sixth floors of Two Rialto Square.

"They're not quite as big as those apartments," Bays said of his new 13-story tall acquisition. "But they will be nice. We're going to totally rebuild the inside of the building."

Patch asked Bays if he intends to attract people in professions such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, working professionals, Will County Courthouse staff and city of Joliet employees to live here.

"We're looking for people who can afford to live downtown and spend money downtown," Bays responded. "One hundred and forty units and it will have a fitness center, maybe a small restaurant inside, and a ballroom. And we're going to try to expand everything in the building and make it really nice."