Decatur, Illinois
Decatur is a processing town whose most valuable ground belongs to its factories: ADM, Caterpillar and the old Staley mill (now Primient) hold the top-assessed parcels, while the City, the Park District and the housing authority are the largest public holders, all of it readable free on the City's own parcel layer.
10 buildings · 10 with an owner established · 17 sources · 4 tier B · 6 tier A · prepared 2026-11-04
Can you find out who owns it?
Illinois has no state title register: deeds are recorded by the county Recorder, and ownership is read from the assessment roll. In Macon County the owner of record for every parcel is free on the City of Decatur's public GIS parcel layer, which republishes the county roll annually, and the Recorder offers a free grantor-grantee data search (no images), with paid Tapestry and Laredo subscriptions for documents. Many Decatur parcels sit in Illinois land trusts held by a bank as trustee, which keeps the beneficial owner off the roll. No open file of sale prices was found.
Is ownership public?An open dataset names the owner
Cost of one title searchMacon County Recorder 'Direct Search - Free DATA SEARCH: Land Records DATA only, NO IMAGES'; Tapestry 'for a fee' and Laredo 'paid subscription' (fees not stated on the page). Recording: $72 standard document (2025 fee schedule)
Bulk ownership dataCity of Decatur ArcGIS 'Macon Co. Tax Parcels' (Public/parcels FeatureServer/0): 56,667 parcels countywide with owner name, mailing address, site address, legal description, acreage, use code and land/improvement/farm values; free, unauthenticated, no licence stated
Sale pricesNo transaction data published
Sites that forbid taking their data
- propertytaxonline.org — “'Access and use of this website is provided subject to the following terms and conditions... If you accept these terms, please click the accept button at the bottom of this box. If you do not accept these terms, then exit and do not use this website.' (Fike and Fike's Macon County property-tax inquiry, linked from the Supervisor of Assessments page.) Not accepted; not used.”
1
The marquee buildings
The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.
| Building | Use | Owner | Owner type | Last price paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decatur Civic Center and City Hall 1 Gary K. Anderson Plaza |
Civic | Decatur Metropolitan Exposition, Auditorium and Office Building Authority Parcel 04-12-14-107-001 (2.36 acres, use code 90, values 0 as exempt) is in the name 'DEC METROPOLITAN EXPOSITN', with 'AUD & OFFICE BLD AUTH' carried on the mailing line - the roll's abbreviation of the authority's name; the City does not hold the parcel itself. The City of Decatur gives 1 Gary K. Anderson Plaza as its own address and lists the Decatur Civic Center among its quick links. A City permit (2022-25 file) records a $5,000,000 project for solar canopies in the parking lot. |
Government | —B |
| Macon County Office Building 141 S Main St |
Civic | Decatur Public Building Commission Parcel 04-12-15-284-010 (0.43 acres, exempt) is held by 'DECATUR PUBLIC BLD COMM'. Macon County's own pages place the Recorder (Room 201) and the Supervisor of Assessments (Room 401) in the 'Macon County Office Building, 141 South Main Street'. The commission holds 8 parcels inside the city on the roll, among them 1.77 acres at 253 E Wood St and 0.58 acres at 304 S Main St, and a group on E Condit and E Orchard Sts; all are exempt. Which county functions occupy 253 E Wood St was not established from an opened source. |
Government | —B |
| ADM Decatur processing complex (Decatur East and West) 4666 E Faries Pkwy |
Industrial | Archer-Daniels-Midland Company The roll's most valuable parcel in the city: 04-13-05-400-008, 87.31 acres, land $224,661 + improvements $4,617,358 = $4,842,019 on the layer, owner 'ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND COMPANY', mailed PO Box 1470, Decatur. The adjoining 76.02-acre parcel at 4320 E Faries Pkwy carries $4,413,051. ADM's 2025 10-K gives its principal executive offices as 77 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, and reports 'the restoration of operations at the Company's Decatur, Illinois facility' and insurance recoveries 'related to Decatur East and West'. Wikipedia lists ADM as Decatur's largest employer (4,000, 2019). |
Public company | —A |
| Primient corn wet mill (former A. E. Staley plant) 2200 E Eldorado St |
Industrial | A E Staley Co KPS Capital Partners holds a controlling interest in Primient (Wikipedia) Three roll parcels at 2200 E Eldorado St (54.49, 51.03 and 56.07 acres) are in the name 'A E STALEY CO'; in all the company holds 19 parcels and 374 acres inside the city, $3,360,063 on the layer. Wikipedia: Tate & Lyle bought A. E. Staley in 1988 (90% for $1.42 billion) and in 2022 it 'was incorporated into their newly formed Primient subsidiary, of which KPS Capital Partners holds a controlling interest'. The roll still uses the Staley name; a 2024-25 City permit for a new 70 by 90 ft equipment building at this address names Primient as owner. The stake is from Wikipedia, hence tier B. |
Private equity | —B |
| Caterpillar Decatur plant N 27th St (roll site address) |
Industrial | Caterpillar Tractor Co Four parcels are in the roll name 'CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO' (mailed to the tax department, 100 NE Adams St, Peoria) and one in 'CATERPILLAR INC': 107.54 acres on N 27th St ($3,737,729 on the layer) and 103.37 acres ($3,307,628) carry the plant; a 41.48-acre tract and a 67-acre farm parcel complete 325 acres and $7,244,027. Caterpillar's 2025 10-K lists Decatur, Illinois among U.S. manufacturing facilities for both Construction Industries and Resource Industries. Wikipedia says the plant 'produces Caterpillar's off-highway trucks, wheel-tractor scrapers' and more, with 3,150 employees (2019). |
Public company | —A |
| Decatur Memorial Hospital 2300 N Edward St |
Institutional | Decatur Memorial Health Foundation Parcel 04-12-03-401-015, 24.37 acres, $211,152 on the layer, is in the name 'DECATUR MEMORIAL HEALTH FOUNDATION'. Variants of the name (Decatur Memorial Health Foundation, Decatur Memorial Health, Decatur Memorial Hospital, Memorial Health System) hold 64 parcels and 60.5 acres in the city. Parcels beside the campus are owned by Ventas Inc, not the hospital (302 W Hay St, $3.04M; 1 and 2 Memorial Dr, $1.25M). A City permit records a $13,774,704 HVAC terminal-box replacement at the hospital. Wikipedia lists the hospital as the third-largest employer (1,903, 2019). |
Institution | —A |
| HSHS St. Mary's Hospital 1800 E Lake Shore Dr |
Institutional | St Marys Hospital Parcel 04-12-24-153-028, 3.58 acres, $223,855 on the layer, is in the roll name 'ST MARYS HOSPITAL' (mailed to the accounting department at the hospital); 'ST MARYS HOSPITAL' and 'ST MARY HOSP SISTERS 3RD ORDER' hold 12 parcels and 23 acres in the city. The roll name differs from the operating brand HSHS St. Mary's, which the City's permit file uses as owner for a $38,000,000 partial permit (demolition, trades and wall construction, by Leopardo Construction) and for CT and MRI replacements. Wikipedia lists HSHS St. Mary's as an employer of 930 (2019). |
Institution | —A |
| Millikin University campus 1184 W Main St |
Institutional | Millikin University 'MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY' holds 152 parcels and 77.4 roll acres inside the city, $3.36M on the layer, most exempt; Wikipedia gives a 75-acre campus. The largest taxable piece is a 7.11-acre parcel valued at $2,945,651 and mailed to a Bloomington management address - student housing held in the University's name. Outside the city the University also holds farmland (Scovill and numbered farms near Maroa and Warrensburg), lifting its countywide total to 159 parcels and about 1,014 mapped acres. A City permit records a $6,154,999 locker and weight-room building. |
Institution | —A |
| Barnes & Citizens Building 236-250 N Water St 165,000 sq ft |
Office | Vista Securities Inc REjournals (25 Jul 2022): Friedman Real Estate 'recently sold the Barnes & Citizens Building, a 165,000-square-foot office asset located on 236-250 N. Water St.', 'Decatur's second tallest building'; no price or buyer was given. The current roll puts both parcels, 236 N Water ($84,641) and 250 N Water ($126,961), in the name 'VISTA SECURITIES INC', mailed to a Decatur PO box; the company holds 24 parcels in the city. The roll carries no deed date, so whether Vista Securities was the 2022 buyer is not established. |
Private company | —B |
| Retail centre at N Water St and E Pershing Rd 3000 N Water St |
Retail | RSS JPMBB2014-C25 - IL BVO LLC Parcel 07-07-35-351-011, 18.5 acres, land $461,612 + improvements $2,284,234, and a pad at 3020 N Water St are in the name 'RSS JPMBB2014-C25 - IL BVO LLC', mailed care of Rialto Capital Advisors LLC in Miami - an entity named for the JPMBB 2014-C25 commercial-mortgage securitisation and its servicer, the usual form of a lender-held property; no foreclosure document was read, so the route to title is not established. Neighbouring parcels are held by 'BRETTWOOD VILLAGE ASSOC' (through a Soy Capital Bank land trust), Aldi Inc and Soy Capital Bank & Trust. |
Private company | —A |
2
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
Figures from the City of Decatur's parcel layer, which republishes the Macon County roll (read 4 Nov 2026). The layer gives land, improvement and farm value fields but does not label their basis (assessed or equalized), so they are quoted as the layer states them, not as market values.
Highest-valued parcel in the city$4,842,019
ADM, 4666 E Faries Pkwy, 87.31 acres (land $224,661, improvements $4,617,358). City of Decatur GIS, Nov 2026.
All parcels flagged in the city$1,009,368,270
35,199 parcels: land $174.4M, improvements $833.6M; 2,307 exempt parcels (use code 90) carry no value. City of Decatur GIS land-use In_City flag joined to the parcel layer, Nov 2026.
Industrial land benchmarkabout $0.06 per sq ft
ADM's main parcel: $224,661 of land value over 87.31 acres. The highest land value per square foot on the layer (about $4.18) is on a Lake Decatur south-shore home lot - the lake, not downtown, is the dearest ground.
Owners per parcelabout 13 parcels in 100 held by a company, trust or trustee
Of 35,199 in-city parcels, 4,428 carry a company, trust or trustee name; the rest are individuals, not named here. City of Decatur GIS, Nov 2026.
3
Who owns the town
At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.
Inside the city (35,199 parcels the City flags In_City) the largest holders are public bodies and the factories. The Park District and the City hold the most land; ADM holds the most value. Three habits of the Macon County roll shape the reading: exempt parcels carry no value; the roll acreage field is blank on many town lots (mapped acres are given where they differ); and about 400 parcels are in the name of a bank or land trust as trustee (Lincoln Land Illinois Land Trust alone 143), the Illinois land trust that keeps the beneficial owner off the roll. The largest private residential holders are local LLCs with 20-56 houses each; no national single-family-rental company appears.
| Name | Type | Holdings in the city |
|---|---|---|
| Decatur Park District Spelled 'DECATUR PARK DISTRICT' and 'DECATUR PARK DIST' on the roll; almost all exempt. It includes the 225.4-acre Decatur Airport parcel at 901 S Airport Rd, which the City flags as in the city. Wikipedia: the airport 'is owned by the Decatur Park District' and covers 2,100 acres, more than this one parcel; the district's 'resources include 2,000 acres (810 ha) of park land' and three golf courses. |
Government | 168 parcels, 2,778 roll acres (about 3,808 mapped acres countywide)A |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Company 'ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND COMPANY' / 'CO' - the processing complex on E Faries Pkwy and Brush College Rd, a downtown parcel at 350 N Water St ($2.62M), and scattered lots. ADM holds 204 parcels and about 1,834 mapped acres countywide. |
Public company | 158 parcels, 1,734 roll acres, $28.25M on the layerA |
| City of Decatur The City's own count: most are small vacant lots, many land-banked (its 'City Owned Land' layer is described as 'City owned lands for land banking purposes'). The Civic Center parcel is held by a separate authority (see marquee). Lake Decatur itself is not carried as a City parcel on this layer. |
Government | 1,068 parcels, 681 roll acres (967 mapped)A |
| Decatur Housing Authority 154 exempt and 95 single-family-use parcels. A related mixed-finance owner, 'EAST LAKE/DECATUR RENTAL III LP', holds 32 more parcels mailed care of the Housing Authority at a Chicago address. |
Government | 262 parcels, 54 roll acres (91 mapped)A |
| A E Staley Co (Primient) The corn wet mill on E Eldorado St; see marquee for the KPS Capital Partners stake (Wikipedia). |
Private equity | 19 parcels, 374 acresB |
| Caterpillar 'CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO' and 'CATERPILLAR INC'. |
Public company | 5 parcels, 325 acres, $7.24MA |
| Decatur Sanitary District Includes a $12.8M new office building for the Sanitary District at 501 S Dipper Ln in the City's permit file. |
Government | 33 parcels, 232 acresA |
| Decatur Public School District 61 Recorded under at least six spellings (Decatur School Dist #61, Decatur Public School #61, Bd of Ed School Dist #61...). All exempt. |
Government | 47 parcels, 206 roll acresA |
| Millikin University Most of the countywide land is farmland held as numbered and Scovill farms outside the city. |
Institution | 152 parcels, 77 acres in the city; about 1,014 mapped acres countywideA |
| Richland Community College (and Foundation) The campus parcel is in the name 'RICHLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FND', exempt. |
Institution | 120 acres in the city (1 College Park); 5 parcels, 161 mapped acres countywideA |
| State of Illinois Mostly the Illinois Department of Corrections at 2310 E Mound Rd (three parcels, 85 acres) - Wikipedia: 'Decatur Correctional Center, a prison for women, is in the city.' |
Government | 14 parcels, 110 acresA |
| Illinois Power Co The utility's legacy name on the roll (mailed to 1901 Chouteau Ave, St Louis), including 7.82 acres at 370 S Main St ($1.84M). Wikipedia lists Ameren Illinois as a 630-person employer; the roll itself does not use the Ameren name. |
Public company | 30 parcels, 89 acres, $6.50MA |
| Macon County Trustee Lots in the name 'MACON COUNTY TRUSTEE' (3 acres in all). The City's GIS publishes 'MCT' lots and MCT auction lists beside its Macon County tax-sale layers and its own land-bank parcels. |
Government | 53 parcelsA |
| Railroads (Illinois Central / Canadian National; Norfolk Southern) Rail corridors are largely not parcelled on the layer, so these counts understate railroad land. Wikipedia names Canadian National and Norfolk Southern as the two Class I railroads serving the city. |
Public company | Illinois Central 12 parcels, 2 acres; Norfolk Southern 4 parcels, 15 acresA |
| United States of America 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA', 'USA NAVY BASE' and 'U S POSTAL SERVICE'. |
Government | 3 parcels, 5 acresA |
5
Who builds the houses
New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.
Decatur builds almost no new houses: it is a shrinking city (Wikipedia: 94,000 people in 1980, 'the fastest shrinking city' in Illinois). The City's permit file for April 2022 to April 2025 holds 908 residential building permits, of which roughly 15 describe a new house, against 335 demolition permits. There is no volume or national builder; new homes are custom builds by small local contractors, and some contractors on the file trade under a person's own name and are not listed here. Habitat for Humanity is the only repeat builder of starter homes.
| Name | Type | New-house permits Apr 2022-Apr 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Decatur Area Habitat for Humanity The permit file has an $80,000 'New build residential home, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath 1120 sqft' and a $100,000 rehab; the roll shows 22 Habitat parcels, mostly vacant lots on E Wood St and E Prairie St. |
Institution | 22 lots on the roll; 1 new-house permitA |
| Sullivan Contractors 'Building a new residential structure', Sept 2024 - the costliest house on the file. |
Private company | 1 ($3,523,500)A |
| KLH Construction (KLH Homes) 'New house build', Aug 2023. |
Private company | 1 ($245,000)A |
| Castle Contracting 'New Construction', Aug 2024. |
Private company | 1 ($30,000)A |
6
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
Decatur's commercial property is mostly owner-occupied - the plants, Walmart's three stores, Target, Kroger and the hospitals hold their own sites - so landlords are few and small. The region's mall is not in the city: Hickory Point Mall was built in Forsyth after the Decatur City Council rejected it 'by one vote' in July 1974 (Wikipedia), and CBL sold it to Namdar Realty Group in August 2020; its roll owner is 'HICKORY POINT REALTY LLC &' co-owners. Multifamily and affordable-housing partnerships with out-of-town owners are the largest landlords inside the limits.
| Name | Type | Holdings in the city (layer value) |
|---|---|---|
| Ventas Inc Mailed to 10350 Ormsby Park Pl, Louisville. Clustered around Decatur Memorial Hospital (302 W Hay St, $3.04M; 1 and 2 Memorial Dr; W Kenwood and W McKinley Aves), plus 2120 N 27th St, 330 N Wyckles Rd and 550 Southland Dr. |
REIT | 10 parcels, 9.8 acres, $6.82MA |
| Spring Creek Preservation L.P. 2727 N Monroe St, 3.5 acres, apartment use code; mailed care of 'RELATED COMPANIES', 30 Hudson Yards, New York. Neighbouring 2700 N Monroe St ('OXFORD HOUSE APARTMENTS' / 'PRESERVATION LP', $2.59M) and 3077 Southern Hills Dr ('DECATUR PROPERTIES' / 'AQUISITION LLC', $1.55M) are mailed to 60 Columbus Circle, New York. |
Private company | 1 parcel, $2.63MA |
| RSS JPMBB2014-C25 - IL BVO LLC The N Water St / Pershing Rd retail centre (see marquee), mailed care of Rialto Capital Advisors. |
Private company | 2 parcels, 18.6 acres, $2.99MA |
| Moundford Terrace Apartments LLC 3700 N Woodford St, apartment use code. |
Private company | 4 parcels, 22.7 acres, $2.63MA |
| Vista Securities Inc Holds the Barnes & Citizens Building (see marquee) and other downtown parcels. |
Private company | 24 parcels, $337,197A |
| MDA Properties LLC / 101 S Main Place LLC 101 S Main St ($790,357, 0.55 acres), 151 W Wood St ($51,025) and one more lot; all mailed to 101 S Main St Ste 800. |
Private company | 4 parcels, $845,890A |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- Decatur's tallest building: REjournals calls the Barnes & Citizens Building the second tallest; which building is the tallest was not established (the Decatur Tribune, which wrote on it, bars Claude by robots.txt).
- Sale prices: Illinois transfer declarations carry a price, but no open per-sale file for Macon County was found; the county's property-tax inquiry (Fike and Fike) sits behind a click-through disclaimer that was not accepted.
- Whether Vista Securities Inc bought the Barnes & Citizens Building in 2022 or held it earlier: the roll layer carries no deed date.
- The beneficial owners of about 400 parcels held by banks as land trustees are not on the roll and were not sought.
- A 611,000 sq ft warehouse permitted at 3960 E Mound St ($26.7M, C3M Trust with Busey Bank as trustee on the permit) does not yet appear on the parcel layer under that address.
- One roll parcel (5541 North Fork Rd) records 9,164 acres against 0.22 mapped acres - an acreage-field error, excluded from acreage totals.
§
Sources
- Macon Co. Tax Parcels (Public/parcels FeatureServer, layer 0) - full layer read 2026-11-04, 56,667 parcels — City of Decatur GIS · openA
- Land Use (Planning/land_use FeatureServer, layer 0) - In_City flag: 35,199 parcels 'Yes' — City of Decatur GIS · openA
- Maps - 'the owner's name is only as current as the data received from the Macon County Tax Assessor's office on an annual basis' — City of Decatur · openA
- Recorder - search tools (Direct Search free, Tapestry, Laredo) and tract index — Macon County, Illinois · openA
- Recorder fee schedule 2025 (55 ILCS 5/3-5018.2) — Macon County Recorder · openA
- Supervisor of Assessments — Macon County, Illinois · openA
- Illinois Property Tax Public Inquiry - Macon County disclaimer — Fike and Fike, Inc. · registrationA
- Decatur, Illinois — Wikipedia · openA
- Decatur Airport — Wikipedia · openA
- Hickory Point Mall — Wikipedia · openA
- Millikin University — Wikipedia · openA
- A. E. Staley — Wikipedia · openA
- Archer-Daniels-Midland Co Form 10-K for 2025 (filed 2026-02-17) — SEC EDGAR · openA
- Caterpillar Inc Form 10-K for 2025 (filed 2026-02-13), Item 2 Properties — SEC EDGAR · openA
- Friedman Real Estate sells Barnes & Citizens building in Decatur (25 Jul 2022) — REjournals · openA
- Building Permits (OpenGov Monthly Report) - 7,515 permits, Apr 2022 to Apr 2025 — City of Decatur GIS · openA
- City of Decatur home page (City Hall: 1 Gary K. Anderson Plaza) — City of Decatur · openA