John Bays Reveals Who Will Occupy His Penthouse Suite On Joliet's Top Floor At Bays Tower

JOLIET, IL — When someone mentions "luxury living" and "Illinois" in the same sentence, North Shore communities including Winnetka, Highland Park and Lake Forest might come to mind, but how about downtown Joliet?

On Thursday afternoon, Joliet commercial real estate developer John Bays met with Joliet Patch to unveil his new penthouse suite on the 13th floor of his recently remodeled Bays Tower, the former Joliet Area Housing Authority Murphy Building at 311 N. Ottawa St., overlooking the Des Plaines River, east of the Jackson Street Bridge.

Officially, the Bays Tower penthouse suite is called the 12th floor of the building. Bays said he made the first level "the ground floor" and the rest of the building is numbered floors one through 12 "because some people can be funny about buildings with a thirteen floor," Bays explained.

Whether it's called the 12th floor or 13th floor, the Bays Tower penthouse offers a bird's eye perspective overlooking Joliet's downtown and riverfront.

The penthouse suite encompasses 3,000 square feet and features three bathrooms and three bedrooms. It's got marble floors and marble kitchen counters. The penthouse suite includes three 100-inch television screens mounted into the walls of three different rooms, "and the sound system is unbelievable," Bays explained.

John Bays Reveals He's Not Renting Out Penthouse Suite, He's Moving In Himself

The Bays Tower penthouse suite has four chandeliers, and the two fireplaces will be installed within the next week. The wood paneling on the walls is from Africa and China, and "I have a special door that came from Poland," Bays pointed out.

"I would say about $400,000," Bays answered upon being asked how much money he spent on remodeling the top floor apartment space that he converted into the penthouse suite.

Even though Bays said he has someone willing to lease his brand-new penthouse suite for around $6,000 a month, Bays has decided not to rent the property out.

"I'm just going to keep it for myself," Bays explained Thursday. "I'm going to move in within two or three weeks."

As many Will County residents know, Bays owns a gated estate nestled on 11 acres in Homer Glen, where he's lived for 40 years.

"I've got a buyer for it, but I've had it for so long I'm not sure I'm ready to sell it. I can sell it in one day, but I don't know if I want to sell it, and I definitely don't want to rent it. It's a lot of upkeep when I'm never home. It's just a big house for one person," Bays pointed out.

'I Will Be Downtown And I Will Watch Over Everything': Bays

Bays said it makes sense for him to occupy the penthouse suite at Bays Tower since he has so many buildings and properties located within downtown Joliet already.

"I will be downtown, and I will watch over everything," Bays remarked. "I'm 98 percent occupied on the east side and west side and downtown, and I've got a lot of properties on the west side, a lot."

His collection of properties in downtown Joliet alone consists of:

• Bays Catholic Charities building at the corner of Cass and Ottawa.
• Bays Professional Center at the corner of Cass and North Chicago, occupied by The Forge
• Two Rialto Square Building, featuring CUT 158 Steakhouse on the first floor, several professional offices on floors 1-4 and 20 luxury apartments on floors 5 and 6.
• Bays Premier Building on Jackson Street, just east of the Jackson Street Bridge.
• The State of Illinois government office building on North Chicago Street near the Will County Government Offices.
• Pioneer Building across from the Will County Courthouse
• Scott Street Parking Deck, formerly owned by the city of Joliet.
• Bays Executive Center on North Scott Street
• Former St. Anthony's Catholic Church, on North Scott Street, which Bays has converted into four apartment units so far.
• Bays Tower, the 13-floor former Joliet Housing Authority public housing property at 311 N. Ottawa Street.

City of Joliet Holding Ribbon-Cutting Next Week For Bays Tower

In one week, on Oct. 16, the city of Joliet will join Bays for a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official grand opening of Bays Tower. The building consists of 139 apartment units plus the one penthouse suite on the highest floor.

Most floors consist of a dozen apartment units, while the 12th floor consists of six apartments plus the penthouse suite.

"As soon as we're done with the grand opening, then I will move some stuff in," Bays said of occupying his penthouse suite.

As for the rest of his Bays Tower building, "We have close to 60 families in here right now, but we've got like 400 applications we're still going through," Bays explained. "Right now, we have not had a bad comment. Everybody is happy here."

In September, Bays hired a company to repaint the entire outside of the building.

"It looks a helluva lot better than it did, that's for sure," Bays remarked. "Anybody who's been in this building is going to think it's beautiful, if they've been in here before."