BLOOMINGTON - The sale of the Coachman Motel is stalled as work to prove a clear title of ownership continues, but one local developer still plans to build a retail plaza on the site.

Meanwhile, the city of Bloomington is waiting for the approval of an asbestos removal plan before it can continue with the building's demolition.

Ward Waller, a local developer who is buying the property at 408 E. Washington St., said the sale will move forward once a clear title to the property is available.

Waller announced earlier this year that he intended to buy the downtown property and redevelop it.

A plaza for retail and some residential use is being planned for the site, Waller said.

"We are looking at a design that will look nice and fit with the neighborhood," Waller said. "We don't want something that jumps out and looks brand new."

Wei Ye, the current owner of the Coachman Motel, is going through court procedures to ensure no one else has claim to the property. Ye is among a list of people who bought the property on a contract in which the title to the property would not change hands until all the requirements of the contract were met.

"It makes it more complicated that this property had been bought on contract so many times," Waller said.

About three years ago, Ye sold the property on contract to Andy Colburn. The city of Bloomington filed several ordinance violations against Colburn in an attempt to force improvements at the dilapidated motel.

The city eventually filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to demolish the building.

Cooperating with demolition

Earlier this year, Colburn turned the property back over the Ye, who is cooperating with the city to have the building demolished.

City Manager Tom Hamilton said the city has submitted a plan to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for removing the asbestos from the motel, built in 1961.

Once the IEPA approves the plan, the city can move forward with demolition, Hamilton added.

"I'm still hoping to have it down by Thanksgiving," Hamilton said.

In June, the City Council voted to spend about $120,000 to tear down the building. The city will be reimbursed for its cost when the building is sold.