A developer working to bring the former State Farm building back to life in Downtown Bloomington has plans to revive another nearby historic property too.
Urban Equity Properties has purchased the Park Plaza Garage at 112 E. Jefferson St., Bloomington, City Manager Jeff Jurgens said Friday on LinkedIn. The 87-year-old parking garage has been closed for months due to structural concerns, Jurgens said.
Urban Equity Properties, or UEP, “intends to bring it back to its 1938 roots as the Auto Hotel,” Jurgens said. The Auto Hotel was built on the former site of a post office building. It was dubbed Bloomington’s first fireproof automobile garage, according to the McLean County Museum of History. Several businesses have also operated on its first floor.
UEP announced in April it was moving ahead with a $68 million renovation of the former State Farm building, just a block away, with financial assistance from the City of Bloomington. UEP planned 183 residential units, plus a ground-floor retail and a destination restaurant on the 13th floor, in a development called “G.J. Lofts,” in an apparent nod to State Farm founder G.J. Mecherle.
UEP plans to repurpose the old Auto Hotel as a garage with premium parking for the neighboring G.J. Lofts as well as some potential visitor parking, Jurgens said. The garage is steps away from downtown destinations like Red Raccoon Games and the McLean County Museum of History.
“This conversion supports the City’s vision of a vibrant, mixed-use downtown with seamless parking solutions and historic preservation at its core,” he wrote.
UEP bought the building in September for $65,000, property records show.
