We Value Bloomington-Normal

BLOOMINGTON -- Verizon is investing at least $590,000 in its downtown Bloomington office, 110 E. Monroe St., as the company prepares to close its Illinois headquarters on East Empire Street, Bloomington.

The company plans to install a new air-conditioning unit and other equipment and prepare office space for employees moving from the East Empire Street building, said spokeswoman Karen Boswell.

The city recently approved a $590,000 permit to Anderson Spencer Co. of Normal for the work.

Verizon sold the East Empire Street building in March for $4.96 million to New York-based GHP Office Realty.

The sale, which included two office buildings and two parking lots on 8.6 acres in Bloomington, was part of a larger deal that included Verizon properties on the East Coast, where GHP does most of its business.

The Bloomington property likely will be resold, GHP officials said.

Coldwell Banker Commercial is listing the main 117,539-square-foot office building for $9 per square foot.

Meanwhile, Verizon employees eventually will move to Verizon offices in Normal and downtown Bloomington, a transformation that could take two years. Verizon signed a two-year lease agreement with GHP to stay in the Empire Street building during the transition.

At the time of the sale, around 140 Verizon employees worked at Empire Street.

Verizon put the building on the market in February 2006 because the company no longer needed the space. General Telephone and Electric, which later became part of Verizon, opened the building in 1958.