ROCHELLE — All above-grade structures of the Hickory Grove facility have been demolished, Rochelle city officials said Monday. 

The $361,900 demolition project of the facility at 1127 N. 7th St. began last month and has been undertaken by McDonagh Demolition and overseen by Willett, Hofmann & Associates. The city assumed ownership of the deteriorating building in early 2020 for $1 with the intention of demolishing it and developing the property. The building was previously owned by the Ogle County Civic Center Authority (OCCCA) board, which was under the Ogle County Board umbrella. The city decided to purchase the site so it could control it and likely would’ve had to deal with it later if it was abandoned due to OCCCA being in financial trouble. 

City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said the project has gone “very well” so far and it is on schedule to be completed in April. 

City Engineer Sam Tesreau said the building’s connections to the Comfort Inn hotel next door have been removed as well. A large amount of debris remains to be sorted through and hauled off which should be completed by the second week of March. Restoration of the site will begin mid-March to late-March, Tesreau said. 

Restoration will be done to the hotel’s facade where connections were when temperatures get warmer as part of the city’s agreement with the Comfort Inn. 

The focus of the project will now shift to grade and below, Luke Dixon of Willett, Hofmann and Associates said. Work on the pool area, partial basement and slabs will be next, he said. 

The demolition has not been without its challenges. Dixon said not only was the physical connection between Hickory Grove and the Comfort Inn difficult, but there have also been intertwined utilities including Comcast and Nicor. Rochelle Municipal Utilities cleared out its utilities prior to demolition.  

“We have coordinated with Nicor and Comcast to accommodate the demo and they’ve been responsive,” Dixon said. “There have been a few surprises along the way which is not uncommon in a project of this nature that we are working through.” 

Prior to demolition and after difficulties with easements and unknowns of the older building since the city took it over, Fiegenschuh expressed concern that the demolition would encounter larger difficulties during the project. That hasn’t been the case. 

“Things have gone much smoother than I anticipated,” Fiegenschuh said. “If it’s only finding a couple of misplaced utilities, then things are going good.”

The city manager said the city still has to work out a land swap agreement with the Comfort Inn in the near future for the hotel to have a pool. 

The city has yet to issue a request for proposal for developers interested in future development of the site. That will not happen until the site is cleared off and prepped. 

City officials have weekly meetings with McDonagh Demolition and Willett, Hofmann & Associates about the project. Fiegenschuh said they’ve both been “great to work with” and praised Tesreau for his work on the demolition as well. He’s glad the city council approved having Willett, Hofmann & Associates on site every day monitoring the project.

“It’s gone very well,” Fiegenschuh said. “Compared to getting the project greenlighted, the demolition has been much smoother. Hopefully we’ll get it cleared off and the land swap done and we’ll issue a request for proposal and get something nice developed there that the community can be proud of.”