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(slow groovy music) - [Mark] Hello, and welcome to "Illinois Stories", I'm Mark McDonald, in Jacksonville.

In past years, during the springtime, the MacMurray College campus would be buzzing with the activity of about 700 students.

But several years of economic stress, and then the COVID virus, lead to the difficult decision to close the school, and auction the buildings and property.

It was a blow to Jacksonville.

But it did present some opportunities.

- Mike Hayes of Jacksonville is one of the businessmen who became aware of the auction, and saw an opportunity.

And you have to have a range of sort of, you have to be really think out there, but the opportunity's there, and you took a couple, didn't 'ya?

- Yeah, we wound up with, actually we wound up with five buildings, three of the parcels.

Our primary interest was in the chapel, and the dining hall, it was in the Annie Merner Chapel, and McClelland Dining Hall, to combine with our business did, we're in the process of putting together a winery out on the east side of town, and we were looking for more event space, and we had a pretty large demand for weddings, given the fact that there haven't been any weddings, many weddings in the last couple of years, because of COVID restrictions.

- [Mark] COVID restrictions.

Sure, yeah.

- We think it's gonna be the next couple years, gonna be pretty active.

- This is perfect for that.

- Yeah.

- And you're gonna take us in and show us.

- Yes.

- It's a beautiful building.

- Yeah, it's actually only one of two facilities like this in Jacksonville that have a center aisle.

That's the real attraction here.

It seats to, up to 1100 people.

- [Mark] Wow!

- [Mike] Under normal circumstances.

But it has a center aisle for the bride to come down, which is unusual here.

I think there's actually only one other church in Morgan County that has a center aisle.

- [Mark] And this is called the Annie Merner Chapel?

- [Mike] This is the Annie Merner Chapel.

Yeah, Annie Merner, actually, Annie Merner, and that's the Henry Pfeiffer Library, which was a different parcel, they were married.

And that, there's all this history about.

That's the reason the two buildings face each other.

- Ah-ha, okay.

- And there's nothing built between them, apparently there was never supposed to be anything, so the two buildings could always see each other.

But Annie Merner was married to Henry Pfieffer, and he had passed away, and this was actually built shortly after she passed away.

- Now the dining hall, was also, really sort of up your alley, because what this will allow you to do, is to have larger groups, larger, and of course, it's already a dining hall, so it's meant- - [Mike] And it's got a full kitchen.

- [Mark] And it's meant for entertaining and that kind of thing.

And it's got a full kitchen, which of course, it's hard, it's very expensive, kitchen equipment is very expensive, so it's right up, and you'll take us in there, too, right?

- [Mike] I'd be happy to, sure.

- [Mark] Okay, that's a beautiful building, too.

And at the end of this, sort of this plaza, or this long yard way, is another building.

And that's a more modern building.

And that's not yours, but you sold it to the health department.

- [Mike] Yeah, well it actually came and partnered with me at the auction.

It was part of it, the property was sold in parcels, so this parcel, this was the first parcel, contained three buildings, and Putnam Springer is a building that I'd had some conversations with the Morgan County Health Department.

They were looking for a space.

And they were considering building.

So I actually brought them through here, through my involvement with the college before the auction, and they loved it.

I mean, it's exactly what they're looking for.

So, they actually partnered with me at the auction, and wound up, I was the successful bidder, but when we got to closing, they actually bought that directly from the college.

- Oh okay, so they'll be moving in there sooner than later, right?

- Yeah, I hope, I think they're talking about trying to get in there maybe at this year.

- Wow, that is fast.

- But it'll be soon.

I think they intend to, I think they're working on their plans right now.

- [Mark] And all this green space between here and there, there's plans for that, too?

- [Mike] Yeah, we actually had it sub-divided.

So this parcel goes back to just beyond that monument, there.

So everything north of there is theirs, and south is ours.

We are actually having some conversations about possibly putting some more parking back there, too.

But this space on my side, I intend to move some of the monuments from around the campus that I acquired over here, and set this up as kind of a little park, a memorial park for MacMurray College.

- Nice.

- The Alumni Association, I work with them quite a bit, on through this process have, and they intend to continue to use this for homecoming activities.

- That would be sweet.

- So they're actually coming back in October, is the first homecoming.

- And of course, they'll have these two facilities right here, that they could use.

- These two facilities, and then they may even, we may even house some of them here on campus, as well, for the weekend.

- Well, can we go in the chapel first?

- Sure, sure.

- [Mark] Mike, you were talking earlier about the central aisle that the bride and groom could come down, and you really get a very nice effect when you walk in, it's just gorgeous space, just beautiful.

- [Mike] Yeah, it is beautiful.

I was actually married here, 30, yeah- (Mark laughing) - [Mike] 37 years ago, I guess.

- [Mark] So you have special, special attachment to it.

- Yeah, my daughters' played recitals here, dance recitals, and things like that, as they were growing up, yeah.

- Speaking of playing, I believe that the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra uses this space.

It's perfect for them.

Any plans for them to be able to continue to use it?

- We haven't made plans yet, but my intention is to continue any of the community events that were going on here.

We'd like to have Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra back.

The Madrigal Singers, oh yeah, MacMurray had a very active choir.

I mean, we'd like to get some of that stuff going again.

I mean, obviously, but the pipe organ from 1952 is still in here.

We'd like to get some concerts.

The one thing that is gone from here, is the piano.

There was the Stein, the Van Cliburn Steinway, but it stayed local, it's still here.

The Jacksonville Center for the Arts has actually acquired that, and it's still in town.

But I have another grand concert to put back up there, that actually was in one of the other buildings.

- Well, that'll suffice.

- Yeah.

- The acoustics are great.

- Yeah, yeah, you can see, they actually, it's all wired for sound.

I'm actually gonna have Mason Sound come in and tweak all of the, the sound system, make sure everything's up-dated.

We'll probably up-date it a little bit.

Make it a little more compatible with some of today's technology.

Yeah, but the Bose speakers are here.

- So you got a, this could be a performance space for anybody that wanted to use- - That's what we intend to do.

And we'll probably sponsor some events here, as well.

- Tell me more about the organ.

Because apparently, it's a specific type that's well-known.

- Yeah, it's a 1952 Aeolian-Skinner organ, and apparently one of the top organs in the world.

I've heard it play as recently as right before the auction, the open house for the auction.

- [Mark] If we look up at the walls up there, where you see the, I'm not sure what the, those are grates, or drapes, or whatever, that's where the pipes are back behind that wall, and there are hundreds of them.

- [Mike] I think there are almost 3500 up there, pipes in the walls.

- [Mark] At the upper end of your property, Mike, is this cornerstone from the old main hall.

- [Mike] Yeah, yeah, that's what I was told- - [Mark] It's been torn down since then.

- [Mike] Yeah, that's what I was told.

And it was torn down, I think, in the late 90s, early 2000s, and replaced by Putnam-Springer, but they preserved this, as a memorial to some of the original buildings at Parker Hall, and some of the original buildings that were here.

There's actually memorials still for Main Hall, in front of Putnam Springer Building.

- [Mark] Before it became MacMurray, it was Illinois Women's College.

And it was affiliated with Illinois College, which was all male.

And this was all female, until later like in the 50s.

- [Mike] Until, I think in the 50s, I think in the 1950s.

- [Mark] So this will stay?

And this will, of course be, surrounded by some other monuments from around the college.

- Oh, we're gonna put in new landscaping.

You can't see what we've done in the last, because it's all gone, but it was all overgrown.

We've taken all the bushes and shrubs, that had become overgrown out, we're gonna re-landscape all this in the spring.

- It's gonna be really nice.

- And we've trimmed up all the trees.

They were all kind of overgrown, and had been neglected.

- Interestingly, there's some, somebody had some fun with walking down from the cornerstone to the dining hall.

And these blue footprints go, lead you the way.

- [Mike] Yeah, apparently this was, this is the footprints of the Michalson Monster.

Apparently the stories were that the Main Hall was, and some of the other halls up here were haunted by a monster, that when they tore this down, made it's way all the way across campus.

(Mark laughing) And up the walls of Michalson House, which is a dormitory that wasn't in use at the end.

And you'll see these footprints go all the way up.

It came by way of the dining hall, and you can see the path it took all the way through.

- So if you had a wedding over at the chapel- - Yes.

- You could come right across that little green space here.

- Just walk right over.

- And this would be you're, where you'd cook, everybody could feed, or dance, or 'cause it's- - Or an event, too.

Like we're hosting a prom here in May.

And they're gonna start over at the chapel, and then they're gonna come here afterwards.

Same, the Beaux Arts Ball is gonna be this summer, same thing.

They're gonna start at the chapel, and just walk over here.

- [Mark] So you've already got bookings.

- [Mike] Oh yeah, we have- - [Mark] That's terrific.

- [Mike] We have several bookings this year, all ready.

And we actually haven't advertised at all, they're just people that have contacted me, have found me.

- It's an interesting design.

I'm not an architect, but I kind of call this barrel ceiling effect, you know, which is the half-circle.

- It's almost like a Quonset hut, although it doesn't come down to the floor like that.

- [Mark] Much classier, though, so classy.

- Yeah.

- [Mark] And the chandeliers are beautiful.

And you've got a big fireplace at each end, which is also a lot of interest, a lot interest.

- Yeah, we plan to take advantage of those, and run gas to those, so we can run them all the time in here.

- Yeah, and actually you know, you can just use half of it, too, couldn't you?

I mean, if you add some large group.

- Yeah, you can sub-divide it, sure, sure.

- And the interesting thing, and cost-saving thing, is it's got a full kitchen, and kitchen equipment is so expensive.

- All ready in place, it's already in place.

- Let's go in there, I'll follow you.

- Sure, sure.

(footsteps tapping) Yeah, we actually have, several portable buffets that we can set up, configure any way you want.

We got food warmers.

We're actually back here today cleaning the kitchen, preparing for the Kiwanis Pancake and Sausage Day.

- Is this where it usually is held?

- [Mike] Yes.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- [Mike] Yes, and they prepare the pancakes and sausage back here.

And in the past have served it in the dining area, but now this year, it's gonna be a drive-thru event, but it's still gonna be prepared in here.

- [Mark] Yeah, yeah.

Well this is gonna be a great community asset, too.

Because you know, like you said, there are a lot of community groups that need, they need facilities, and you can cut 'em a deal, and you know, they can get it done.

This is also nice, Mike, because what you can do if you want, if you don't wanna have everybody waiting, you know, having to have a server for their food, you can have them come in and- - [Mike] A food line.

- Come right back out and serve themselves- - And right back out.

- And go right back out.

- And you don't eat up floor space in the main dining area.

- [Mark] Yeah.

And what I'd like to do, is go back outside, because the administration building, and one of the residence halls, are part of what you're doing.

You've got plans for that, too?

- Yes.

- So let's go over there.

- Sure.

- Well Mike, we just walked across East College Street.

- Right.

- And we look over your shoulder, we can see the dining hall that we were just in.

And of course, the Merner Chapel which is across the way, there.

And then, so over here, on this side of East College, there are several other big massive buildings.

One of them here looks like a residence hall.

- This is Rutledge Hall.

It has about 50 dormitory rooms in it.

Which are in great shape.

I mean, they were ready to re-open and put students back in, so we will, we'll be renovating that building, and bringing it back online fairly quickly for some short-term housing.

- And this is yours?

- Yes.

- And in fact, you've already had discussions with a group of workers who were in town.

- Tell us about that.

- Yeah, they're in town for the rest of the year.

They were looking for short-term housing.

A lot of the guys were just here during the week, and go home on the weekends, so they wanted something pretty affordable, and just a place basically to come at the end of the day, and sleep, and go back to work the next day.

- [Mark] What are they working on?

- [Mike] They're working on the wind farm project.

Out around Franklin.

They're building, I think, 107 windmills.

- [Mark] Wow!

- [Mike] It's gonna be a wind farm out there.

- [Mark] And so, that project would take, what?

How long, would you have them for a year?

- [Mike] Probably for a year, or some.

I think it's gonna be under a year, actually.

They're saying they're gonna be done by October, November.

- Well that would be nice if you could get 30, 40, 50 guys in here, wouldn't it?

- And we're gonna bring in some summer interns, as well, for some of the local companies, they're looking for a place to.

Illinois College, I think was housing some summer interns for some of the local companies.

And because of COVID, they're not gonna do that this year.

So I think we're gonna try to accommodate them.

Either at our apartments, or probably put some in here, as well.

- You know, as long as we're looking in this direction over here, I see a gazebo down there.

And you were talking about moving some of the memorials, and some of the things of interest that are on campus, over here to that green area that we talked.

Yeah, that's one of 'em, huh?

- [Mike] Yeah, that was presented to the college a few years ago by one of the alumni classes.

And it came with Rutledge Hall.

So I'm actually gonna relocate that over between McClelland Hall, and Annie Merner Chapel.

So we'll have kind of a little area at MacMurray College area preserved, kind of a park for MacMurray College.

And we've been working with the Alumni Association to allow them to come back every year and have their homecoming here.

So that'll kind of be their headquarters for homecoming.

And put all that stuff kind of in one place.

- Nice, nice.

The library, I'm hoping to see that with the future, or the present owner of that, in just a few minutes.

And that looks like a beautiful building, spectacular.

- [Mike] Oh, it's spectacular, spectacular building.

- [Mark] And then over on this corner, and we can't see a lot of it, but that's another, that's a classroom hall.

- [Mike] That's MacMurray Hall.

- [Mark] That's yours.

- [Mike] That's MacMurray Hall.

Yeah, I acquired that, that's MacMurray Hall.

And it's all classrooms.

It went through a renovation in 2015, I believe.

- [Mark] That's good.

- [Mike] They put a new elevator in, and everything, so it's a great building, it is configured as classrooms, so.

One of the primary reasons that I acquired that building, was that it has a huge parking lot.

And it's directly across the street from the chapel.

Because one of the challenges I've always noticed in the past with events at Annie Merner Chapel, or the dining hall, was parking on the street.

And this way, I have that parking lot now.

I acquired the parking lot behind this building.

It has a very large parking lot.

So we got our parking taken care of.

- Now you have to start a school.

See, because you classrooms- - Yeah, yeah.

- You got nothing to do with it.

- Now we got classrooms, we got dormitories, we got a dining hall, we got a chapel, we got an administration building, we got the whole thing here.

(Mark laughing) - Hey Mike, thanks for, well, thanks for getting involved in Jacksonville again.

You're very involved.

This is really nice that some local people have come in and take an interest in this, and to own some of this.

And because that means, you know, the community's gonna share some of the wealth, so I think it's wonderful.

- They will.

And I was worried when I first heard about this, that you know, this might get carved up with a bunch of different owners.

And actually, they all wound up in fairly strong hands, I think.

And I think we're all working together.

And I think it's gonna turn out well- - Thank you.

- I really do.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Mark] Well one of the other Jacksonville folks who took an interest in the auction and bought some of the properties, Ryan Turner.

And Ryan, you're in the construction business, a tree removal business, you're a baseball coach.

You got a lot of interests.

But you're good for this, because you can do a lot of this stuff yourself.

You know, making these spaces fit to what you need.

Where are we standing?

It looks like we're in an athletic complex.

- Well right now, what we're calling this, is the Midwest Athletic Center.

And it is, it's an athletic complex.

We have three college-sized basketball courts.

We can facilitate large basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, gymnastic events, dance recitals.

We really are treating this space as a multi-purpose space.

- [Mark] And this was, like when this was a college, this was their main basketball venue.

They also, on the other side, there was a swimming, like a natatorium, I guess is what they call it.

It's a huge swimming pool.

You're not gonna keep the swimming pool, but that could be used, as well, couldn't it be?

- Correct, correct.

- Turned into something else.

- Yes, we've been working with a few, with one local non-profit that has a dream to potentially turn that space into, like a fine arts studio, or a fine arts facility.

Sorry, studio is the wrong word there.

But then, we also have potential to turn it into an additional basketball court, multi-purpose court.

- And the basketball business is pretty good, isn't it?

- It has been.

- Because you might need some extra space.

- Yes, yes, it seems like it.

- People are gonna be amazed when we walk in there, at how much space you have for basketball.

But you could maybe even use some more.

- Correct, correct, we sure can.

- Let's take a look in there.

- Awesome.

- This space is remarkable.

- Yeah.

They really did, I felt like they took care of their athletes here.

Between, I was good friends with Chris Douglas, the former football coach that was here, and the facility, the weight room facility that they had.

The changes that they were doing to the football field, and then baseball, and basketball, as you can see alike, they really did, I felt like they took care of their athletes, student athletes, very well.

- [Mark] Now, what kind of events have you had in here?

You know, what the enthusiasm level is?

- Yeah, so we've had, we had some large, larger, with COVID, of course, as large as we could do, we're still trying to hold between 25% capacity, we're spacing people out.

People are wearing masks, and things like that.

But we've had some very, before IHSA, came back on, we had some nice, large varsity basketball games in here.

Practice games, essentially, is what they were.

But they were some good intense match-ups for early-season basketball.

We have an eighth grade event coming up on March 14th and 15th that we think is gonna be an awesome event, too.

- [Mark] So when you, if you want to, you can turn this floor right here, into four full basketball courts.

- [Ryan] Three full basketball courts.

- [Mark] Three full, okay, I'm looking at two and a half right now.

- [Ryan] Yep.

- [Mark] So these bleachers, they move back.

- [Ryan] Correct.

- [Mark] And that gives you another, like half of a court.

- [Ryan] So that becomes Court One, the Main Court then rolls up, then Court Two, and then the far North Court will be Court Three.

- [Mark] And of course, it's not just basketball.

You could use this for all kind of venues, because you can use a little, or a lot, a little space, or a lot.

- Correct.

- Tumbling, dancing, gymnastics.

- So, yes.

So currently we're renting out by the court, for in two-hour increments.

So you can choose to rent the whole gym, whole facility, or just one court at a time.

We have a large curtain that we can pull for sound.

So sound isn't transferred back and forth.

We've rented the space for footsaw, indoor soccer.

Volleyball, basketball, dance recitals, as you mentioned.

You name it.

We really want the, we're treating this space as a multi-purpose event center.

- Yep, yep.

Okay, you also have some outdoor recreational facilities.

And you got the library.

- Yes.

- You know, and we mentioned the library earlier in the program.

Libraries, you know, universities, they always put a lot of value in the library, right?

Because they're a learning, they're a learning outfit.

And the libraries are always gorgeous.

- Yes.

- So we'll get to see that, too?

- Absolutely- - Let's go outside.

- Go outside and show you that.

- [Mark] Hey Ryan, just to give some perspective, this is the building we were just in.

If you look at the concrete part there, that's the swimming area, I guess, right?

- [Ryan] Correct.

- [Mark] That we did not look at to.

And then there was the hall and the concession area, and the other side, the other side where the basketball courts were.

So it's a big building.

- [Ryan] Absolutely.

- [Mark] There's a lot in there.

There were offices and classrooms, and everything that you're gonna have to find a way to put to use.

But I wanted to come out here, because some of the property that came with your plot was this football practice field.

And one of the problems that you, and Mike, and other developers are gonna have, is gonna be parking.

- [Ryan] Yes.

- [Mark] So you're always looking for a flat area where people can access, right?

- [Ryan] Yes, yes, we sure are.

And everything we wanna do, is bringing people to this area.

The same with Mike, we're wanting to bring people to the campus.

But then, you gotta have a place to park 'em, and that's right.

So that's actually, we're in the developmental stages of putting in our parking lot right here.

And I believe this is gonna be our location for that.

- So this could be a big parking lot, and you'd have access, oh, is that Clay Street, there?

- It is.

- [Mark] Okay, I see a car going by there right now.

So, all you have to do, you know, build a little driveway in off there, and you had paved this, and you're good.

- [Ryan] Yep, yep, absolutely.

- [Mark] And there's also, just over behind us here, is a baseball field.

This was their main baseball field.

It's a good field.

And you're not, you don't have any plans to do much with that.

It's gonna stay a baseball field?

- [Ryan] It is, for the next, at least for the next year, or so, it's gonna stay as a baseball field.

And we plan on partnering with our friends, Adam, and Christian Jameson, from Future Champions Field.

When they have busy weekends, we're going to rent that to them for overflow.

- That used to be Lance Field?

- Correct, correct.

- Out near the hospital?

- Yes, an alter facility here.

- Yeah, and it's actually, they're pretty successful, they bring in big tournaments- - They are, they really are.

They are probably one of the main tourism attractions in Jacksonville, they really are.

- And they can't always take the number of teams that wanna come in?

- Correct.

- So this would be overflow.

- It is, it is.

And it's a perk for a lot of the older teams to play.

We've got sunken dugouts.

Although the turf fields are very nice, sometimes it's nice to play on a collegiate field, too.

- Sure, sure.

- So it should be a nice little perk for the teams, as well.

- You're gonna mowing a lot of grass this summer.

- A lot of grass, 14 acres of grass.

(laughing) - I hope you're in shape for it.

- Oh, yeah.

(laughing) I barely mow my own grass at home.

(laughing) - Well, you're a busy guy.

- Yes, sir.

- Okay, what other buildings have you bought on this campus?

- So I own, what we call, is the formerly known as the campus center.

It was built in the, I believe in the mid-60s, really modern architecture.

Super-nice building though, built like a tank.

And we've been working with the local non-profit that we think is going to move in there.

I can't speak exactly to that right now, formally.

But we're really excited about what's gonna happen there.

Then we have Julian Hall, which was their- - Is that this brick building- - It's this brick building here, which is, it features a large lecture hall.

I think you could have about 150 to 200 people in there.

It's set up with desks, and for presentations, and things like that.

With a lot of large, they used it as lab classrooms.

But essentially it has, just a lot of big, multi-purpose rooms in there now.

We have, we kind of have a dream of doing a trade school one day here, in Jacksonville.

And between, you mentioned my businesses earlier, I have a construction business, and then my father owns a tree service and landscape company.

And today, right now today, we could both, both companies hire 20 employees - Is that right?

- Right now.

If they were skilled?

- If they were skilled.

If they were skilled, and we're not even, we don't really even need them to be, we don't need them to be fully, fully trained.

We just need a little bit of skill and a driver's license, you know, and just work ethics.

- And then they could learn the rest on the job.

- We could teach the rest on the job.

Absolutely.

- So, this would be perfect for you.

- We really hope that.

And we're not alone in that.

Many of the general contractors that I work for, and alongside with, are in the same boat.

So we feel like, just my own connection, we could place those men and women who would go through that school, and then also just here, locally.

We have a few manufacturers here locally, that are always in need of just help.

And so we hope to educate, and you know, college isn't for everybody.

And we just really hope that we can help some people out in our community, and essentially it builds Jacksonville from within.

- You know, Mike Haze was talking about, too.

You know, he's got a classroom building that he doesn't know what to do with.

- Yes.

- If there was a need for classrooms, if there were some, oh, it doesn't have to be college, like our junior college, or even trade school.

It'd be just some informal way of learning a trade.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

So that's kind of the hope there for Julian Hall there.

And then we have the library there, across the way here, which we're super-excited about.

It's just, I started admiring that building about two years ago.

My wife and I, we got married in Annie Merner, so I used to always drive by, and I would just look at it, and about two years ago, my attention, for whatever reason, driving by, started shifting to the library.

And it's just an awesome building, and then, you know.

Now I have it.

- Will you take us in?

- Yeah, let's go check it out.

- C'mon, let's go.

- All right.

- [Mark] You got yourself a library.

(Mark laughing) - [Ryan] I do, I do.

- [Mark] I hope you like to read.

(laughing) - [Ryan] New-found hobby.

(laughing) - [Mark] It's really very stylish.

- [Ryan] It is.

- [Mark] It's very stylish.

It was built in 1942.

And you can see a lot of the appointments like the sconces, and the exit sign over the door.

You got a lot of nice period stuff here.

- [Ryan] Yeah, we do.

We're super-excited about the light fixtures, and the condition of all of them.

They're really neat.

- Yeah, they did, they kept it in good shape.

You're drawn immediately to this big, this big area over here on the right.

- [Ryan] Yes.

- [Mark] With the barrel, the barrel.

I guess that's called a barrel ceiling.

- [Ryan] A barrel vault ceiling.

- [Mark] A barrel vault ceiling.

- [Ryan] Yes, sir; yes, sir.

- [Mark] You know better than I do.

And the first thing you see, is these massive chandeliers.

- [Ryan] Yes.

Hung from a very large brass log chain, too, no doubt.

(chuckling) - [Mark] Oh my goodness.

- [Ryan] They're approximately eight feet by eight feet in size, and they are, they are just massive.

That's the first thing that I was drawn to, that, and then, of course, the moldings and the woodwork here, on the archway.

- [Mark] Now, this is dramatic, but throughout the building, you have really nice attention to detail on the woodwork.

- [Ryan] Yes, there really is.

- [Mark] They're not all this big, they're not all this big, and dramatic, but yeah, very nice.

- [Ryan] Yep, they definitely are, definitely are.

- [Mark] So you're not gonna open a library.

What the heck do you do with a building like this?

- Right?

Well, we've got a few ideas.

The first one that really shouts out to us, and also is kind of a need in Jacksonville, is we really think like a craft brew, a micro-brewery, slash, restaurant would do well here.

That's like a definite dream, and something we hope would happen.

- [Mark] Well you could do without a whole lot of investment.

You've got a basement that you could deal with, if you wanted to put, some room for the tanks, and everything you might need.

- It is, and the building is actually constructed, so we're standing on concrete right now.

So each of the floors is all steel and concrete.

So it's essentially built like a warehouse, if you will, in a lot of ways.

And then, you know, many of those places really like to re-purpose, an older, historic facility.

- Sure.

Because they don't build them like that any more.

- No.

- You can't do it.

- You definitely- - But that's the buy you want.

That's what you gotta find it.

- Correct, correct, definitely, definitely.

- Well, Ryan, thanks for the tour.

I really appreciate your time.

- It's my pleasure, my pleasure.

Thank you.

- This of course, MacMurray closing was, and continues to be a blow for Jacksonville, who has had a number of economic blows.

But it's really nice to know local people can step up, look at a property like this, they can envision the future, and really start taking an active role in it.

And it's already happening here in Jacksonville at the old MacMurray College.

With another "Illinois Story" in Jacksonville, I'm Mark McDonald.

Thanks for watching.

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