Bays Tower: 90 Percent Finished, Inground Swimming Pool Next?

JOLIET — Joliet real estate investor John Bays, along with a crew of 60, have been working six days a week for several months, undertaking a multi-million-dollar redevelopment project that is sure to have an enormous positive long-term impact on Joliet's downtown — Bays Tower.

This month, "Bays Tower" signs went up on the east and west sides of Joliet's 13-story-tall building at 311 North Ottawa Street. This week, a company installed all-new neon lighting throughout the exterior, that way, Bays Tower draws attention at night.

"It will light up neon red at night," Bays explained.

"Middle of March is probably when we'll start showing," Bays estimated at Monday's interview with Joliet Patch. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to rent them fast.

"We're probably 90 percent done with the building, but I still want to put in a pool and change the color of the building. In three or four weeks, if you come over, it will look totally different."

Change the color of the building?

Bays said he likes the color the McDonald's restaurant franchise has used for the exterior of its buildings, and that's what he may use for Bays Towers.

"It's probably going to be gray," Bays said. "It's real expensive, it's paint, but you can hardly tell it's paint."

Bays Reveals Inground Swimming Pool Plans

Last July, Bays purchased the 13-story Murphy Building from the Joliet Housing Authority for $4.6 million. During Monday's interview, Bays predicted he will have spent another $9 million to $10 million on building improvements, by the time his project is all done.

Bays Tower consists of 140 apartment units. Bays said he will have a "live-in maintenance guy" and a building manager occupying separate apartments on site. Bays said he will also employ a security guard to monitor the property.

"Middle of March I'm hoping we'll be all done, April 1st for sure," Bays said. "I remodeled all the bathrooms, tiled the floors, painted the walls. Built all new pillars, all new sinks. I replaced all the windows and all the screens. All new heating and mechanical systems are done, and all new kitchens and bathrooms are done. I replaced all the doors."

As far as when Bays Towers would welcome its first apartment dwellers, Bays said he's hoping for late spring.

"April or May, probably as soon as it warms up. The pool won't be in yet, and the outside won't be painted," he cautioned.

As far as the inground pool is concerned, Bays said he wants it to be 40 feet by 60 feet in length.

First, Bays said he still needs to make sure there are no underground pipes or electrical lines in the immediate vicinity of the courtyard, otherwise the concept of an inground pool for Bays Tower won't happen.

If the pool can be built, Bays envisions it will go in the area that served as the courtyard, which is the southside of the building.

"It'll be a nice pool, if I build it, it's going to be nice," Bays promised.

Bays said he's leaning toward wanting to make the swimming pool least 8 or 9 feet deep, but those details still need to be a finalized with a pool company.

"It's going to be a regular swimming pool," he said. "I plan on it being deeper than 4 feet."

'What The City Wants Is Good People Downtown'

Bays said he will require prospective apartment tenants to have a minimum credit score of 650, and they must also undergo a standard background check.

"I would rather leave it vacant, than take bad people," Bays said.

Bays said he will probably set the following rents for Bays Tower:

• $1,250 for a furnished studio apartment
• $1,350 for a one-bedroom furnished apartment
• $1,550 for the two-bedroom furnished apartments.

"The higher you go up in floors, the nicer the furniture is and so is the view," Bays remarked. "It's affordable for people that don't make a lot of money, but it's going to be nice and spotless and clean."

Bays said he used 375 gallons of paint "just on the stairwells" for the entire building.

As far as the apartment units go, two will be reserved for the building manager and the on-site maintenance worker and Bays is creating a luxury suite on the top floor.

The remaining 137 apartments at Bays Tower will be available for lease: 42 studios, 90 one-bedroom apartments and five two-bedroom units.

Bays hopes to start advertising they're available for lease by late March or early April.

Lawyers Offices, Coffeeshop, Fitness Center Planned

Known for years as the "Murphy Building," 311 North Ottawa Street was built around 1965.

Until Bays purchased the property last year from the Joliet Housing Authority, the downtown Joliet high-rise served as subsidized public housing.

The building was empty at the time of his purchase.

During Monday's tour of his remodeling project, Bays told Joliet Patch he plans to put a coffeeshop, possibly Starbucks, on the ground level.

"I'm planning two or three lawyers' offices, a doctor's office and putting in a fitness center," Bays said.

Bays Reveals Why His Elevators Only List 12 Floors

Bays said that a handful of Chicago law firms are interested in leasing space at Bays Towers because their lawyers are regularly at the Will County Courthouse just a few blocks away.

One quirky fact about the building: the Bays Tower has 13 floors, but the two elevators inside the building have no mention of the 13th floor.

Instead, the elevators identify the floors as ground level through 12.

"That's because people got superstitious about the 13th floor," Bays chuckled.

Overall, Bays said he likes the direction of downtown Joliet's future under the leadership of Mayor Terry D'Arcy, City Hall staff and the City Council.

"I think a lot of people are going to want to be downtown with what the city's doing, and I'm doing," Bays remarked. "The mayor and City Council have been excellent on working with me on this project.

"What the city wants is good people downtown, and I'm going to make that happen."