Plans to move Morton Grove’s village hall and police station to a new location got a boost when village trustees approved a design contract to explore the feasibility of converting an existing bank building into a new municipal center.
At their Feb. 28 meeting, village board trustees unanimously authorized a $60,000 design study services contract with Oak Brook-based FGM Architects as the village explores retrofitting the current Fifth Third Bank at 6201 Dempster Street into a new village hall/police station.
Fifth Third intends to build a new bank on what is now vacant property across the street from the existing location, Village Administrator Ralph Czerwinski said.
The village is in negotiations to purchase the existing building, according to village documents.
Czerwinski noted portions of the current village hall at 6101 Capulina Avenue were constructed in the 1890s and the building is showing its age.
“Much of it is in decay, much of it is difficult to maintain, much of it is hard to sustain and it certainly does not meet the contemporary needs of a municipal facility,” he said.
Czerwinski added the village took occupancy of the current building, which had been a grammar school, in 1980 in what was originally intended to be temporary headquarters for both the village staff as well as the police.
The police department has 75 staff members divided into patrol, field, support services and administrative staff.
“There are accommodations in the facility that are woefully insufficient for their needs,” Czerwinski said of the police force. “We all know this.”
Czerwinski said after the meeting that a purpose of the FGM contract was to get a better idea of how much it would cost to renovate the building, which he indicated would be a better financial option than constructing a new structure.
“We want to provide a quality product in the most efficient and affordable manner possible,” he said. “Using an existing building is both sustainable and cost effective.”
