FYI...
-----Original Message-----
From: Ewinger [mailto:ewinger@l...]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 6:23 AM
To: dave_lotz@e...
Subject: Fw: [IlliniRail] Re: Forwarded article: AURORA'S SHUTTERED 1923
DEPOT PUT ON STATE'S ENDANGERED LIST
GOOD MORNING DAVE
found this in my illinrail groups this morning thought the brhs should but
dont know how to get it there
BILL EWINGER
----- Original Message -----
From: EDWARD ROBERT SIROVY <esirovy@c...>
To: all aboard <all_aboard@yahoogroups.com>; IlliniRail
<illinirail@yahoogroups.com>; Chicago Transit
<chicagotransit@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 3:06 AM
Subject: [IlliniRail] Re: Forwarded article: AURORA'S SHUTTERED 1923 DEPOT
PUT ON STATE'S ENDANGERED LIST
>
> ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding----------------
>
> AURORA'S SHUTTERED 1923 DEPOT PUT ON STATE'S ENDANGERED LIST
>
> By Hal Dardick
>
> Aurora preservationists gained a tactical advantage this week in
> their battle to save the shuttered Burlington Northern Railroad depot
> when the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois placed the
> structure on its annual list of the "10 most endangered historic
> places."
>
> The depot, at the south end of downtown in an area slated for the
> potential $450 million RiverCity redevelopment project, "is a unique
> structure within a 100-mile radius," according to the list, which was
> announced Tuesday in Springfield.
>
> Placement of the 1923 Classical Revival-style building on the list
> lends credence to claims by local preservationists that the building
> is historically significant, said Aurora Heritage League President Al
> Signorelli, who sought the building's inclusion on the list.
>
> "The historical significance of the building is as important as the
> architectural significance," said Preservation Council Executive
> Director David Bahlman.
>
> Paul Lewis, attorney for W&M Development Inc. of St. Charles, which
> owns the building and 17 acres on which it sits, contended last year
> that the building lacked historic or architectural significance when
> he opposed its designation as a local landmark, a move that would
> likely have prevented its demolition.
>
> "It's typical that they have not made any attempt to contact us or
> talk to us about it, to hear both sides of the story," Lewis said
> Wednesday.
>
> . Though Preservation Commission staff last year concluded the depot
> did have historic and architectural significance and would qualify as
> a local landmark, preservationists Barbara and Doretta Bates of Aurora
> withdrew their application for the landmark designation last
> December.
>
> Rather than face potential rejection of their application because of
> perceptions that rehabilitation of the depot was not economically
> feasible, the Bates sisters chose instead to pursue placement of the
> building on the National Register of Historic Places. Such a
> designation could make rehabilitation less expensive through grants
> and federal tax breaks.
>
> An October letter written by the National Register coordinator for the
> Illinois Historic Preservation Agency stated that the depot is a "good
> candidate" to be listed on the National Register. The Bates sisters
> and Signorelli are in the process of making a formal application for
> that list.
>
> In negotiations over RiverCity, Mayor David Stover is asking
> developers to hold off on any plans to demolish the depot so they can
> consider rehabilitating it or look for someone else to do so, said
> city spokesman Bill Catching. "RiverCity is a 5- to 10-year project,
> and the early part does not require demolition of the depot," Catching
> said.
>
> But he noted, as has Barbara Kattermann, the city's consultant for
> RiverCity, that the cost of rehabilitating the depot could be very
> expensive. "Certainly, demolition remains an option, just because of
> the cost to rehabilitate it," Catching said.
>
> The city has put down $13,000 in earnest money to buy the W&M property
> for an undisclosed price. If the city buys the property, it would be
> resold to Riverfront Partners, the high-profile development group that
> would build RiverCity.
>
> Riverfront Partners has not committed to either demolishing or saving
> the depot, city officials said.
>
> The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, which after a 1970 merger
> became the Burlington Northern Railroad, opened the depot in 1923. It
> was closed in 1986.
>
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