After more than two and a half years of mulling through the process, including working its way through the bureaucracy that can sometimes move like a sloth, the Kankakee Regional Land Bank Authority is making some progress.

The Land Bank marked its biggest achievement to date by getting the former highly-visible Jaffe Drugs property placed on the commercial real estate market in January. It now has seven properties moved from abandonment or foreclosure to the open market.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Land Bank interim Executive Director Brian White said, of the properties it has acquired, mostly through donations from the city, represent tens of thousands of dollars of foregone taxes that were never collected because they sat vacant for so many years.

“When we put them back on the tax rolls, they’re going to be generating probably $2,500 to $3,000 of annual taxes, of which 70% of it goes to the city and school district, and a small portion goes to the county,” he said.

The KRLBA’s focus is to revitalize neighborhoods through acquiring mostly problem properties, which might include tax-delinquent or abandoned homes or buildings. White said it’s sometimes tough because so many properties are being purchased by tax investors and sitting, costing the taxing bodies revenue.

“My feeling is we are a big part of the solution to that problem,” he said.

Jaffe property

The former Jaffe Drugs property, 217 E. Court St., has generated some interest from investors wanting to put the former store to good use.

White reported that Buck Tamblyn, the local realtor who is listing the property, said he had four showings for the property listed at $99,900 and one more scheduled this past week.

“He’s hoping to get an offer,” White said. “He’s going to keep working and try to get an offer.”

Most of the interest has been from out-of-town buyers with one local, and White said Tamblyn was pleasantly surprised with the interest in the building.

“He doesn’t know what the interests are,” White said. “... [Tamblyn] said it was a little too early to get an offer, and he said this is about what he expected.”

Need some work

Other properties the Land Bank has acquired include 427-431 S. Chicago Ave., 762 Webster Circle E., both in Kankakee. Both were donations from the City of Kankakee.

The organization also acquired the abandoned property at 1065 S. Fourth Ave., Kankakee, through a judicial deed.

“Some of these properties, it has been years since anyone lived in them, so that would be good to get them back on the tax rolls,” board member Randy Chaplinski said.

Some of the houses might need as much as a new roof, while others could use minor repairs that the Land Bank can get taken care of through some contractors it’s working with.

“We want to make it respectable for the next person,” Chaplinski said. “... Then they can fix them up and find a buyer.”

The board is also trying to determine if a few other properties donated to them by the city could be fixed up and marketed to the public, including 242 S. Entrance Ave. and 241 W. Hickory St.

Interested buyers will be required to complete all other repairs and bring the property up to code within 12 months of transfer.

White said what the Land Bank is doing is more beneficial to the communities than if the properties are purchased by tax investors and sat on for months.

“My feeling is we are a big part of the solution to that problem,” he said.

In 2025, the Land Bank acquired and sold two demolished properties in rural Kankakee County at 2847 S. State Route 115 and at 7292 E. Base Line Road, as well as a duplex on South Washington Avenue in Kankakee.

Former Executive Director, the Rev. Montele Crawford, did much of the leg work laying the foundation to what the Land Bank is continuing now.

Crawford resigned in October 2025, and White was hired as the interim executive director effective in November.

More information about the properties the Land Bank has available can be viewed on its website at krlba.org/properties.

“So these are small numbers, but, you know, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it’s little bit by little,” White said.