Beacon demolition shows promise for Aurora's downtown

A decade of planning and saving began to pay off Wednesday, bringing with it a renewed enthusiasm for the future of downtown Aurora.

After one last walk-through, some kind words and plenty of photos of current and former staff members, two large bucket loaders began demolishing the west side of the old Beacon-News building at 101 S. River St.

Officials from The Vanstrand Group, the developer of the mixed-use River Street Plaza, said the demolition of the former newspaper headquarters will take as long as three weeks. Crews will carefully salvage materials and gradually tear down the middle segment of the building before taking out the areas that once housed presses and underground parking.

"It's a slower process because we're separating all of the materials as they come down so we can salvage and recycle as much as possible," Vanstrand Executive Vice President Robert Allan said. "It helps keep costs and pollution down."

In about three weeks the site will be nothing but a grass field until the Aurora Public Library can afford to build its new main facility there. The library purchased the land, which was the home of The Beacon-News from 1953 until March 2008, for $3.2 million in January from developer Joe Vantreese's Vanstrand Group.

The Beacon offices now are on the city's far east side.

Library Executive Director Eva Luckinbill said getting a new, larger library became her primary goal when she took over nearly a decade ago.

To accomplish it, she said, the library board saved every penny it could to build up the reserves that eventually were used to buy the land.

"This is 10 years of work coming together here today for the betterment of the entire city," she said. "We have a long way to go, but this is progress."

Progress not just for the library, but for the entire city, Aurora officials said. The library's plans, combined with the pending completion of Waubonsee Community College's downtown campus at 18 S. River St., may be just the shot in the arm downtown needs.

"I hope we are viewed as an important part of the city's downtown redevelopment plan because I believe we can be just as much a catalyst for growth as Waubonsee Community College can be," Luckinbill said. "A 21st-century library in the heart of downtown in the state's second-largest city would surely be a draw."

In close vicinity, two new restaurants are scheduled to open on West New York Street, including the Billy Goat Tavern and 33 West Trattoria, which will join the expanded Comfort Zone Bar-B-Que.

In addition, the YWCA building on River Street is slated to be demolished to make room for a parking lot to be used for the expanded traffic created from the developments.

Sherman Jenkins, the city's director of economic development, said Wednesday's demolition is proof of the city's commitment to make downtown "the place to be."

"There is a lot of activity in downtown Aurora and we're doing a lot to make (the city's 4-year-old) master plan a priority. We want to implement the plan and keep making things happen," Jenkins said. "Having a new main public library downtown, even if it's not here until three years down road, still shows activity and continuation of development. It shows things are happening."

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<li><a href="/story/?id=369960">Library foundation to auction building pieces<span class="date"> [3/31/10]</span></a></li>

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