City Files to Evict Rich and Creamy Operators for $17,230 in Back Rent

The city of Joliet filed a notice to evict the owners of Rich & Creamy last week because they owe more than $17,000 in back rent.

Bill Gulas and Richard Lodewegen have operated the Route 53/Broadway Street ice cream stand with the iconic Blue Brothers statues on the roof since 2001, but have been hurt by the bad economy and last summer's closure of the Ruby Street Bridge, Gulas said.

"A couple years back, the economy went bad and business took a hit," Gulas said. "When July (2012) hit, (Joliet) closed the Ruby Street Bridge and that hit us harder than even the economy."

In January 2013, city officials reached out to Gulas by email to address the back rent situation. Gulas said he never saw the email and did not reply. He received a second email in February.

"I made an honest mistake and overlooked one of the emails ... they're asking for all the back rent," Gulas said. "We should be able to pay this off this year if they would just give us the time."

But Joliet City Attorney Jeff Plyman said that with the amount that the operators owe, there needs to be a significant payment.

"I think what happened is these expressions of goodwill are all fine and they are genuine, but there has to be some kind of payment," he said.

Gulas and Lodewegen pay the city $1,210 a month in rent. In the past, there have been instances in which the operators made repairs and the city agreed to have the amount deducted from the rent.

"What I think might have been at play here is that some of our tenants, sometimes, they would be allowed to do work on the property as opposed to pay cash," Plyman said. "What I think they did is reach an agreement as far as waiving rent in exchange for specific work."

That was the case when the florescent lights needed to be replaced, Gulas said. Bids were taken by the city, and the $4,000 bill was paid by Gulas and Lodewegen, he said.

"We paid for that and that was deducted off the rent, too," he said.

Gulas does not argue that back rent is owed, but they need time to come up with the money, he said.

The eviction process takes 60 to 90 days, assuming the business owners do not fight the case, Plyman said. That would put the stand out of business in June or July, which is its busiest season.

Plyman admits that the city serving as a landlord is unusual but not unique. For example, it also owns and leases the former Crabigales Comedy Club at 1 E. Cass St. in the downtown district.

In the case of Rich & Creamy, the city purchased the building and neighboring property about 15 years ago in anticipation of a development plan that ultimately did not pan out.

"We were going to do a 99-year lease with a Joliet businessman who was going to do a significant building there," Plyman said. "We were going to have a boat launch and marina ... at the bottom of the hill.

"The river carriers, the lobbying group that represents the barge operators, they objected to us having a water-based park there."

When the project had to be scrapped, the city kept the ice cream stand and built a neighborhood park adjacent to it.

"It was never our intention to become a landlord of an ice cream stand," Plyman said. "I don’t think cities are formed so that we can be commercial landlords."

Plyman said he hopes to be able to work out the situation with Gulas and Lodewegen.

"They haven’t paid rent and we've tried to work it out, (but) we've been unable to reach an agreement," he said. "We certainly would prefer to receive the rent rather than evict."

For his part, Gulas is not sure what he will do if he is evicted. His ties to the ice cream stand go back 37 years. He began working there in 1976 as a teenager.

"I have no other source of income, so I would be out of work," he said.

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