Riverside Square could tumble

What started out as a new cornerstone to downtown Algonquin with the Riverside Square development may now end in a pile of rubble.

The village board on Tuesday unanimously agreed to ask a court to order the incomplete building's demolition, provided its owner - AMCORE Bank - doesn't bring the building up to code or raze it by Monday.

Riverside Square was to be an upscale residential building with 54 condominium units and 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.

That the half-finished building with so much promise could meet the wrecking ball has Village President John Schmitt shaking his head.

"It's really a shame," he said. "If it wasn't for a really rotten economy for the last two years, I'm sure that building would be complete now and we'd be celebrating. And instead, we're looking at demolition."

For months, the village and AMCORE had been trying to resolve outstanding issues at the building at Routes 31 and 62 that include the bank's failure to finish installing a roof, windows, exterior brick, fire protection and a weather-tight shell that would have protected the building from the elements, Community Development Director Russ Farnum said.

As it stands now, the building's wooden structure has deteriorated significantly, due to all of the water that has gotten inside, and now poses a safety hazard, officials said.

Algonquin has been seeking fines from AMCORE for the unfinished work that dated back to late spring 2009 and ranged between $50 and $1,000 a day.

Now that the village has directed its attorney to act, officials will withdraw that complaint from its local hearing officer and bundle it with the demolition request to a judge in Woodstock, Farnum said.

"I would say we've exhausted all our other remedies in terms of working with AMCORE to get that building finished," Farnum said. "We're still seeing no progress... on that building and the board said, 'Let's take it to the next level.'"

An AMCORE spokeswoman had no comment on the matter.

The property, meanwhile has been in and out of the courts.

Construction started in spring 2008 and came to a grinding halt in January 2009 after Aspen Homebuilders, the Algonquin-based firm hired to build the project, filed for bankruptcy protection after defaulting on a $13.5 million loan from AMCORE to complete the building.

AMCORE began foreclosure proceedings against Aspen, but dropped them in exchange for Aspen surrendering the deed to the bank.