The historic Clay Dooley Building in the heart of Bloomington is getting a new tenant after sitting idle for nearly a decade.
The owners of Premium Loaves, a growing Jimmy John’s franchisee with more than 125 locations across seven states, recently purchased the former auto repair shop and intends to move the company headquarters from Normal to the site.
“They’re the fastest growing franchisee for Jimmy John’s, which is incredible to know that they are here locally for us and that they want to locate in our Downtown,” said Samantha Mlot, the city’s economic development advocate. “They need this facility because they are so quickly growing.”
The Bloomington City Council on Monday unanimously approved a redevelopment agreement with Premium Loaves for the $4.2 million renovation project. Plans call for turning the 25,000 square foot building into a mixed-use development, with the corporate offices on the second floor and two commercial retail spaces on the ground floor.
“They are still working to secure tenants for the commercial spaces,” said Mlot, who noted the business would move more than 20 employees into the office space.
The site at 307 E. Grove St., spanning the block along Gridley Street between Grove and Olive, is within the Downtown Tax Increment Financing [TIF] District aimed at neighborhood revitalization through investment in underutilized properties.
Under the TIF incentive, Bloomington will reimburse the developers for TIF-eligible expenses such as rehabilitation and infrastructure upgrades up to around $633,000, about 15% of the total project cost.
Mlot said the owners intend to keep the existing concrete lot at the north side of the property on Grove, but they do plan to clean up the east side along Gridley.
“They’re going to take away some of the pavement, put in some landscaping, take away a lot of that impervious surface,” she said.
City Manager Jeff Jurgens called it “yet another big development that’s going on within the City of Bloomington.”
The council approved the measure without any further discussion.
