City of Fairbury Looks to Buy Old Gas Station

The City of Fairbury is looking to purchase the long-shuttered gas station and car wash at 1325 E Street.Originally opened in 1976 as Fairbury Robo Car Wash and later becoming Petersen Gas and Wash, the building has sat vacant for many years.The city’s Community Redevelopment Authority met Monday, December 23, to discuss options for funding. Regarding a possible grant to pay for the property, Development Services Director Laura Bedlan said, “As far as the grant goes, it looks like it might become kind of competitive, and we do have some other projects that we could apply for. We don’t know yet if we can combine those projects together in one application or not.”However, Bedlan pointed out that applying for a grant would delay transfer of the property, “If we go with the grant, we wouldn’t be able to transfer property or actually buy the property until a later date, so, that it could potentially be part of the grant. And we wouldn’t know that for a couple of months yet.”“I don’t want you to think that the grant is an end-all option here. There are a few different options for the property to potentially recoup what we put into it,” said Bedlan. “There’s also some TIF (Tax Increment Financing) options.” TIF is a public financing tool that helps fund economic development projects in a specific area. TIF works by capturing the increase in property taxes and other taxes that result from new development, and then redirecting that revenue to fund the development.The city has offered $55,000 for the property. That is according to Bedlan, who told FJN after the meeting, “Their focus is to clear the site and list it for redevelopment.”No action was taken at the meeting. In 2024, the City of Fairbury and Village of Endicott created the South Jefferson Land Bank, intended for the acquisition, maintenance, development, and disposition of real property for the purpose of returning it to productive use.Bedlan made clear this project does not involve the South Jefferson Land Bank, “The CRA is purchasing the property. The Land Bank has nothing to do with this property acquisition.”

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