PEORIA MAGAZINE March 2023

S P O T L I G H T

THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE IN DOWNTOWN PEORIA Downtown businessman Andy Driscoll wants to fill that void and get the maximum out of his MAXAM Building

BY STEVE STEIN PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

Andy Driscoll in an empty room in the Maxam Building

and residential complex, is trying his best to lease the nearly 8,000-square foot first-floor restaurant and nearly 20,000 square-foot second-floor banquet facility. Driscoll has enlisted a Peoria com mercial real estate company to find tenants for the empty loft-style spaces in the building at 316 SW Washington St., which sits near the Warehouse and Riverfront districts and is adjacent to the Peoria Riverfront Museum and Caterpillar Visitor Center. The 10 condominiums on the fifth and sixth floors of the MAXAM Building are filled. Driscoll closed the Broadway Lounge and Waterhouse Banquet and Catering Facility last summer, in part because he wanted to spend more time with

his family after working nights and weekends for years. Primarily used as a special events and entertainment venue featuring comedians, music combos and dueling pianos, the Broadway Lounge closed for about two years so Driscoll could focus on his banquet business, then reopened in February 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. ‘IT'S TIME FOR ENTREPRENEURS WITH FRESH IDEAS AND A FIRE IN THE BELLY’ — Andy Driscoll That began a series of closings and openings as state officials struggled with how to mitigate the spread of the virus. Then Driscoll, like others

E mpty buildings across the Downtown Peoria landscape have been a drag on the area for years. But at least one Downtown building owner and manager isn't dragging his feet. Andy Driscoll, whose companies own a portion of the MAXAM Building and manage the entire six-floor commercial

66 MARCH 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE