Cracks and safety concerns: What's going on at this Downtown Peoria parking garage?

Sections of the Twin Towers parking garage in Downtown Peoria are being repaired after city code inspectors found safety concerns in the garage stemming from water infiltration into the structure.

Cracked and crumbling concrete throughout the garage is being repaired out of fears falling concrete could harm someone, according to community development director Joe Dulin.

Parties involved have all said their findings show there is no structural concerns with the parking garage and all repairs are cosmetic.

Ownership of the garage is split among the city of Peoria, Twin Towers Plaza, Twin Towers Place Condominium Association and the Becker Building.

The city of Peoria is repairing the parts of the garage it owns and has opened a code enforcement case with the Twin Towers Place Condominums and Twin Towers Plaza.

The Becker Building made repairs to its portions of the garage last year.

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How much will parking deck repairs cost?

Peoria began work on its portions of the garage in December, and work is expected to wrap up in sometime in May, likely the next two to three weeks, according to Peoria Public Works. The project is costing the city $160,000.

Deciphering who owns which parts of the garage and who needs to make which repairs has been a complicated process, according to those involved who say the city and other stakeholders are still working out these details.

Both Twin Towers Plaza, which is the mall and offices portion of the towers, and Twin Towers Place, which is the residential portion, had code enforcement hearings in April that resulted in both given six months to hire an engineer, make an assessment and create a plan for repairs for their portion of the garage.

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Chris Oswald, an attorney for Twin Towers Place, said they would have preferred the city not go the route of a code enforcement case but added they are going to work with the city and cooperate in getting the repairs done.

"There's some water infiltration issues, and we've been working to find the sources of that. And we did take some steps that helped to slow that, and really we're trying to work with the city to come up with a final resolution for it," Oswald said. "We were hoping to do that not in housing court, but that's what the city elected to do."

City attorney Patrick Hayes said this type of code enforcement case was routine and pretty typical.

Oswald said they are still trying to do is figure out who owns which walls, floors and ceilings in the parking garage and iron out who is responsible for the various utilities.

"The condominium association feels it's an important component of the property to keep it in good repair and they also would hope the city and Heartland Parking, who really maintains it, would want to take an active role in that," Oswald said.

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Safety and security

City councilman Chuck Grayeb, whose Second District includes downtown, said the safety and condition of Downtown Peoria's parking garages, of which the city owns three downtown, has been at the top of mind for him and other city officials.

Peoria's three city-owned park decks are Jefferson Street parking deck across the street from City Hall, the Niagra Deck on the corner of Main and Jefferson streets and the Twin Towers parking garage underneath the Twin Towers on Fulton Street.

"The city is concentrating entirely on that," Grayeb said in February. "They have their own condo association, and we've been working very very closely since the fires to make sure everything is up to snuff there, including security for people using the parking decks. We've had some events where criminal element has been in our decks downtown, not just that one. I would say we're on whatever those problems are, big time."

In 2022 a fire on the 26th floor of the east tower caused residents to have to evacuate the building. The fire led to $500,000 in safety renovations being done in the towers.

The Peoria Police Department has been patrolling the area around the Twin Towers parking garage more often, department spokesperson Semone Roth said, citing come past incidents of stolen vehicles as the main reason.

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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Safety concerns lead to repairs at Downtown Peoria parking garage