Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register
A member of the family that founded the Family Video Inc. nationwide chain of video stores is the new owner of the former Esquire Theatre in Springfield. The immediate plan, said a representative for Eric Hoogland, is to demolish the property at MacArthur Boulevard and South Grand Avenue. The building has been vacant since the theater closed in 2003.
“We want to get it down,” said Phil Spengler of Wanless-Spengler real estate. “That’s number one. We can’t show it or sell it until the building is gone.”
CEHOG1 LLC, said Spengler, is an Eric Hoogland company. The Hoogland family founded the video-store chain in Springfield in 1978. Family Video has grown to more than 775 stores in the United States and Canada, according to the company website. Hoogland has not yet decided what to do with the property, said Spengler, but he added that demolition should be completed in a matter of weeks.
Asbestos-abatement crews were at the former theater Tuesday, said Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin. “It’s in preparation for demolition,” said McMenamin, who has been among the most vocal advocates for redevelopment of the Esquire property.
McMenamin said he heard the property had been sold, but that he was not yet aware of specific plans for the site. While Family Video operates video-rental stores, including one just south of the Esquire, the company also has developed retail strip centers, including in Springfield.
Under a city vacant-building ordinance, Wednesday was the deadline for AMC Theatres Inc., to take action on the building. The city vacant-building ordinance limits abandoned buildings to three years on a registration list. At that point, owners must either demolish a property or restore it to the point it can be occupied.
“If neither is achieved,” city building manager John Sadowski wrote in an email, “the city would file a case in administrative court, and seek fines of $750 per day, as per ordinance, and then foreclose on the property based upon those fines.”
As a result of the sale, said Sadowski, an administrative court hearing scheduled for Wednesday was continued to April 29. Sadowski said an administrative complaint would be filed against the new owners if a demolition contract is not submitted to the city prior to the next hearing.
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MacArthur Boulevard Association president Jen Dillman said removal of the abandoned theater would open a variety of possibilities for the site. The Esquire property also is in the MacArthur Boulevard tax increment financing district, which could aid with redevelopment costs, said Dillman.
Funds from the TIF district aided construction of the Hy-Vee supermarket on the former Kmart site at 2115 S. MacArthur Blvd. TIF districts use increases in property tax revenue from new development as incentives for additional development in the district.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 