The City of Peoria hopes to complete its intended purchase of Exposition Gardens at a foreclosure sheriff’s sale Wednesday, after getting approval from the City Council to authorize bidding up to $2 million.
During a nearly two-hour regular meeting Tuesday’s, the council voted 9-2 in giving City Manager Patrick Urich the ability to execute the purchase for more than the original amount of $1.125 million.
“We feel confident that we’ll be in a strong position to acquire the property at the sheriff’s sale,” city attorney Patrick Hayes told the council members. “We’ve asked for the council to give the city manager the discretion to determine the amount of the bid.”
Funding for the purchase comes from a $2 million line-item appropriation from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development [DCEO] to the Peoria Land Bank as part of the state’s 2026 fiscal year budget.
Since the state has not released those funds yet, the council also had to amend the city budget to allow for an interest free short-term loan from the Other Post Employment Benefit to the general fund to complete the purchase.
That fact drew concern from council members Denis Cyr and Alex Carmona, who cast the two votes against the proposal.
“I find it so difficult anymore to really try to find what the truth is,” said Cyr. “Until we do have this money, I just can’t support us spending some money until the money is there.”
“We don’t have the funds now and I’m not confident that we’re going to have them any time in the future,” added Carmona, “because three months have already passed and it still hasn’t worked out the way we thought it would.”
But Mayor Rita Ali said she’s been given assurance that the funding is forthcoming.
“I have actually spoken with the chief of that agency [DCEO], who has assured us that this is an appropriate use of the funding and that we will receive this funding,” she said.
In June, the council gave its initial approval to buy Expo Gardens for the $1.125 million price, hoping to see the nearly 70-acre property on Northmoor Road used for large-scale residential development.
However, the Expo Gardens board never met to give its approval to the purchase prior to Morton Community Bank taking the matter to court over about $1.4 million in outstanding mortgage debt.
“Because of that, the bank proceeded with foreclosure proceedings and received a summary judgment in August,” said Hayes, adding Peoria has liens on the property totaling more than $450,000. “We have now intervened successfully in the case and established our lien position.”
Hayes explained that the city holds priority just behind the bank for the foreclosure auction.
“The bank will appear [and] they intend to articulate a bid less than their total amount of debt due, but slightly more than what we had agreed to in June because of their additional interim costs,” said Hayes. “The city will have the opportunity then to bid.
“If there’s no other bidders, we anticipate being able to resolve the matter short of the bank’s indebtedness. If there’s another bidder there, we can bid the bank’s indebtedness and our entire lien without having to put forth the funds in our lien.”
With a successful bid, the city will need to provide 10% of the price at the sale, and the remainder on the following business day. Hayes said the formal court process to complete the sale includes a confirmation hearing scheduled for Oct. 1, with the city taking possession 30 days later.
