Preservationists of the circa-1840 blacksmith shop in Geneva are proposing a bold plan, not only to restore the limestone remnant to its former glory, but to have it serve as a visitors’ center.

The beleaguered structure is at the center of a yearslong dispute with city officials on multiple fronts.

Last month, the Geneva Historic Preservation Commission rejected developer Shodeen’s third application to raze it.

The owner is seeking City Council approval to overrule the commission’s denial, and allow it to be demolished, which is under consideration at a special meeting 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12.

President of the Shodeen Group David Patzelt has maintained that the cost to restore or repurpose the structure is too great. As a local historic landmark, the city’s ordinance allows demolition under certain conditions, including if it’s too expensive or if its retention is not in the best interest of the community.

Shodeen maintains that the limestone structure, located on the 1.4-acre former Mill Race Inn property on the southwest corner of Illinois Routes 38 and 25, stands in the way of redevelopment.

City officials have countered that Shodeen has not offered a plan for redevelopment.

Among those who submitted letters to the Historic Preservation Commission in favor of demolition was Randy Lindenberg.

“The site is an embarrassment to the City; it is the diametric opposite of what the alleged ‘entry way’ to the City of Geneva should be,” Lindenberg wrote in a Dec. 2, 2025 letter. “It is clearly in tje best interest of the City and the majority of the people who live here to remove the eyesore immediately.”

In a Dec. 15, 2025 email to Preservation Planner Emily Stood, Jerry Rumps wrote a single sentence: “I strongly suggested it be demolished and replaced with a very attractive wood sign showing what it looked like in its glory days.”

Its glory days is exactly what Alan Leahigh and other preservationists are want – a full-blown restoration with multiple uses for tourism, canoe and kayak launches and as a visitor information center for Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles.

Known as the Alexander Brothers’ Foundry and Blacksmith Shop in 1845, Leahigh and others created a diorama of how the Alexander Brothers’ 1845 Foundry and Blacksmith Shop looked back then.

Their architectural model will be available for the public to see from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Comfort Inn & Suites hotel, 1555 E. Fabyan Parkway, Geneva.

Julius and Edward Alexander arrived in Geneva in 1837. Their blacksmith shop established in 1845, the same year the city was incorporated, according to a written plan that Leahigh distributed to alderpersons Monday night.

After it was no longer a blacksmith shop, it housed a succession of businesses: a carriage and wagon repair shop, a cooperage or barrel manufacturing company, a laundry, a paint shop, a machine shop, a plumbing and heating business and an automobile sales and repair shop by the1920s.

The preservationists’ ambitious plan includes that a restored blacksmith shop have restrooms, park-like grounds, picnic tables and offer brochures and maps for other historic sites such as Fabyan Villa and the windmill.

“The Alexander brothers’ foundry and blacksmith shop could become more than a Bicentennial project,” according to the proposal. “It could be a living, breathing place with immense historical, educational, commercial, recreational and tourism potential.”

The plan also cites state and federal funding from grants, as well as applying for tax increment financing money, as the location is in one of the city’s TIF districts.

A tax increment financing district – known as a TIF – is a development tool used by local governments to encourage development or redevelopment in blighted areas that would be too expensive to improve with private dollars alone.

In 2023, the city’s own consultants determined it would take $1.7 million from the TIF to renovate the blacksmith shop.

“We conclude that the reuse of the historic building as a standalone project is a viable alternative as part of a public-private partnership,” according to the Teska and Associates and The Planera Group consultant report.