PEORIA, Ill. – The city of Peoria will have a little more money available to purchase Expo Gardens.
City council on Tuesday night approved an additional $875,000 to buy the land, bringing the total available to $2 million. The amount could be covered fully by a grant from the Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity.
Councilmen Denis Cyr and Alex Carmona voted no on the resolution, with Cyr’s opposition coming from the grant money not being in the possession of the city at this time.
The city originally approved buying the land in June, and develop the land into housing. But City Attorney Patrick Hayes says the Expo Board never took action on the deal, which led to a foreclosure of the property in August.
A Foreclosure Sheriff’s auction for the property will take place Wednesday.
Hayes says while the bank will seek a bid less than the amount of the debt due, but more than the agreed upon amount in June. He estimated that amount to be around $1.4 million.
Hayes believes the city is in a good position to win the auction.
“If there’s no other bidders, we anticipate being able to resolve the matter, short of the bank’s indebtedness,” Hayes said. “If there’s another bidder there, we can bid the bank’s indebtedness, and our entire lien without having to put forth the funds in our liens.”
Hayes says if the city is successful, a confirmation hearing will take place in the courts to confirm the purchase. He says 30 days after that hearing, scheduled for October 1st, the city will officially be owner of the land.
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