JOLIET, IL — The season of Halloween is right around the corner and one of the scariest buildings around Joliet these days happens to be a longtime neighborhood watering hole that may never reopen.
I'm talking about Malnar's Tap & Restaurant, 1123 Clement St.
The Malnar's fire on Feb. 1 was a kick in the gut for Joliet because Malnar's enjoyed a remarkable run in our community. It's a shame what happened, a real shame, but that does not mean the residents of Joliet, particularly the good folks around the city's Cunningham neighborhood, should have to look at the terrible Malnar's Tap ruins for the rest of their lives.
On the first day of February, a Saturday, fire broke out at 7:05 a.m. and Joliet firefighters from Stations 1, 4, 5 and 6 saw heavy smoke and lots of flames coming from the first floor.
The fire left significant damage to the bar, the second-floor apartments and the attic. Two people living in the upper apartments escaped to safety.
After the devastating blaze, I reported that the fire occurred just days before the Joliet City Council was supposed to vote on a Class A liquor license transfer for Malnar's Tap.
The fire happened while Joliet resident Bill Stanford, the new owner of Malnar's Tap, was awaiting approval of the liquor license.
In February, Joliet's Fire Chief Greg Blaskey told me the estimated damage from the Malnar's Tap fire was $300,000 to the building and another $150,000 in contents.
Several hours after the Feb. 1 fire, I remember seeing dozens of curious Joliet motorists slowly driving by along Clement Street to gaze at the ruins.
Then, February came and went, so did March, April, May, June, July, August and now we're heading into mid-September, and nothing has been done with the heavily damaged Malnar's Tap.
I drove by the property this week, and the building looks eerily the same as it did when I covered the weekend fire on Feb. 1 —long before any of us even heard of the coronavirus, to put the time of the fire into perspective.
On Wednesday, I called up the property owner, Bill Stanford, but we didn't have much of a conversation. Shortly after I told him my purpose for calling, Stanford told me I called while he was at work, and he did not have time to talk.
About the only thing he said to me did not make much sense.
"I'm waiting on the city," Stanford said.
Puzzled by Stanford's vague comments, I made a call to Gabe Friend, who works at City Hall in Joliet's Neighborhood Services Division.
Friend told me the city has given Stanford long enough — it's been 7 1/2 months — and that Malnar's Tap still remains troublesome for Joliet's Cunningham neighborhood.
Friend told me he anticipates having a memo ready in the next 30 days asking that Malnar's Tap be declared a public nuisance by the Joliet City Council.
Doing so would give Joliet's legal department more authority to force Stanford to address his dreadful-looking piece of property, 1123 Clement St.
"It's definitely a blight on the neighborhood," Friend told me Wednesday. "It's a burned out building in a residential neighborhood. I don't have any permit application for any demo or repairs.
"I think it could be rebuilt."
Looking back, Friend said the city of Joliet probably was more than accommodating with Stanford, given the new coronavirus pandemic and the economic hardships it caused for countless businesses.
Friend wondered whether Stanford might have run into money problems in getting his insurance adjusters to pay for the fire damage.
But even if that was the case, a number of area lawyers specialize in insurance law and have a track record of speeding up that payment process, Friend explained.
As it stands, Stanford has yet to obtain any building permits from Joliet, Friend said Wednesday. "He has not submitted something to any of us," Friend told me.
For the record, the cause of the Malnar's Tap fire remains undetermined, Joliet Fire Chief Greg Blaskey told me recently.
In any event, it's time for Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, current city manager Jim Hock and the rest of the council to make the new owner of Malnar's clean up his mess.
In the absence of action, Joliet's once-great neighborhood bar and grill will continue to look like a tempting place for vandals and trespassers to visit this coming Halloween.
This article originally appeared on the Joliet Patch
