News release from the City of Danville

The City of Danville is being proactive about future property
development throughout the city, and we feel inclined to make a statement about the
upcoming auction of the Village Mall, located at 2917 N. Vermilion Street, set to take place on
Monday, May 13, 2024.
If you look around, you might notice the hundreds of blighted structures we have removed in
the last several years and how seriously we are taking this effort. Annually, The City of Danville
invests more than $1,000,000 towards reducing blight. This funding comes from a variety of
sources including the Community Development Block Grant, the Community Reinvestment
Fund, and the Illinois Housing Development Authority. We also pull from our General Fund
when necessary.
A variety of factors have impacted the need for us to allocate a large portion of our city budget
to managing these problem properties in Danville. A reduction in our population is just one of
the major contributors. However, we also have an ongoing problem with mismanaged
residential and commercial properties and a lack of maintenance and preservation efforts from
their owners. The aftermath of this poor stewardship leaves us with devastating setbacks for
our community and a halt in development in those neighborhoods.
Some recent examples of this in our community include Bresee Tower, the Sears building, and
the Adams building, all located in our downtown district. When entities without the proper
resources purchase these large structures at a small cost without the means of developing
them or even maintaining them, the deteriorating structures eventually pose many threats to
the health and economic viability of the area. They present safety concerns such as falling
debris, increased crime, and mold growth. Bordering structures are impacted as property
values decrease and new businesses are not incentivized to locate in an area with abandoned
structures, causing a cascade of negative economic consequences.
The City of Danville is proactively rectifying these large, mismanaged problem properties in a
variety of ways, but it comes at a great cost to our city and our citizens – millions of dollars are
spent to pursue legal action to obtain the structures for demolition or restoration. The process
is lengthy, and the loss to our community is great. That is why we want to make a statement
regarding the upcoming Village Mall Auction.
The 35+ acres that comprise the Village Mall, are being divided into three parcels set to go to
online auction on May 13, 2024. Two of the three parcels are being sold as an absolute
auction with opening bids of just one dollar, meaning they will be sold to the highest bidder no
matter how low the price. This means that anyone with a dollar or more could gain ownership
of a very large, highly important structure in our city. Time and time again, we have seen what
happens when these cornerstone buildings in our community end up in the wrong hands. The
City of Danville wants to discourage entities who cannot rightfully develop the property from
bidding.
Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. says, “This structure is very important to our community, and it is
imperative that it ends up in the right hands. We will be taking this very seriously because
Danville has made too much forward progress to allow a cornerstone in our community to
deteriorate.”
The City of Danville wants to communicate loud and clear that we will proactively be enforcing
building code and maintenance standards on the Village Mall. The purchaser will be held liable
for the condition of the structure and parking lots that are acquired. This accountability for
improperly managed property comes with fines, legal expenses, and legal consequences. We
know the incredible, positive impact that could occur for Danville with this structure in the
hands of the right developer and we are doing everything possible on our end to ensure the
best possible outcome for our citizens.