Historic Hale Memorial Church in Peoria may soon be demolished pjstar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pjstar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PEORIA – KDB Group, fronted by founder Kim Blickenstaff, was in the process of acquiring the Hale Memorial Church when it was sold out from under them during an online auction this week.
“Talk about tales of twists and turns and craziness,” said Greg Birkland, president and CEO of KDB Group.
KDB Group began negotiations with previous owner North Illinois Investments shortly after Kim Blickenstaff learned through a Journal Star article that the city had started a demolition case against the historic church. Northern Illinois Investments had agreed to give the property to KDB, said Birkland.
“I was in the process of getting appraisals done for him so he (North Illinois Investments) could write it off on his taxes,” said Birkland. I was getting commercial appraisers out there, and I was drawing up legal documents for it, and then we find out that it was being purchased through auction, and the guy never even told me he had it up for auction.”
A history of problems at the shopping center
The homicide late on Mother s Day was just the latest to draw police attention to the plaza.
According to dispatch records provided to the Journal Star under a Freedom of Information Act request, police have been called to the address 131 times in the past five years due to fights or aggravated battery. In the same time period there were 13 calls for shots being fired there, 10 more where there was evidence of a shooting, and six calls related to unlawful weapons. Additionally, from 2016 to 2021, there have been 272 disorderly conduct calls and seven calls for someone being robbed at the shopping center, the records show.