City considers building parking garage for Barnes Citizen redevelopment

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND)- A downtown Decatur landmark, with few occupants, is getting a facelift.

City council approved a company to begin a structural concept design for a new parking garage to help accommodate the Barnes-Citizen building upgrades. The downtown building has not had many tenants in recent years, meaning there has been little parking demand.

However, city council documents show a new owner purchased the building and plans to remodel it. Decatur officials said Mehrzad Khansalar intends to remodel the 12-story building into a hotel. The 5-story building would be renovated to include 20 residential apartments. The property would also include retail, restaurant, office, meeting rooms, and other hotel support functions in the first and second stories of both buildings.

City staff said demolition work has already started inside, and additional parking will soon be needed. Decatur plans to rebuild a parking garage behind the facility, across the street from Doherty's Pub.

A 3-level deck used to occupy this space, but the city said it was torn down in 2014 because it was deteriorating.

The city of Decatur plans to complete a feasibility study to discuss how the parking deck will be built, financed and used.