Ten months after taking over the vacant Tinley Park Mental Health Center property, the Tinley Park-Park District says it’s making progress in clearing out hazardous materials and prepping buildings for demolition.
In September, the district hired Omega III to do environmental abatement and demolition at the site, northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street.
The Park District took ownership of the 280-acre property in late February, and in its latest update on cleanup efforts said remediation work, including removal of materials such as asbestos, began in October and will continue into 2025.
Some of the most prominent buildings on the site, closest to the Harlem/183rd intersection, are among those slated for the first round of demolition.
The district has also worked with a firm to clear overgrowth on the property, which has essentially been untouched for more than a decade, and is installing security fencing.
Under a deal with the state, the Park District paid $1 for the property and the state earmarked $15 million to rid the property of environmental hazards and demolish more than 40 buildings.
The property includes the shuttered mental health hospital and adjacent Howe Developmental Center. The Park District initially plans to redevelop 90 acres of the Howe center. The hospital closed in 2012.
The Park District envisions an initial phase with five baseball fields, six multipurpose athletic fields, a domed soccer field, stadium with running track, accessible playground and a pond.
The district has has worked with Tetra Tech, which updated a study it did for Tinley Park in 2014. At the time, the company estimated the cost to clean up any contamination and demolish structures on the property at $12.4 million.
The property had once been considered as a site for a combination harness racing track and casino, but language in the legislation Gov. JB Pritzker signed last summer to clear the way for the transfer to the Park District would prevent the property from being used for gambling purposes.
Tinley Park eyed the property for redevelopment and wanted to buy it from the state, looking for retail and entertainment uses that would generate sales tax revenue for the village.
In late September, with the awarding of contracts for asbestos removal and demolition, along with a separate company to monitor air quality during the work, the Park District said it was exhausting nearly all of the $15 million earmarked by Illinois to prepare the property for redevelopment.
The Park District said it will request additional state money to complete full demolition of structures, plus the soil sampling that will be needed as part of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s site remediation program.
The goal, once the site is cleared, it to obtain clearance from the IEPA that no further remediation is needed and redevelopment can move ahead.
In late September, when contracts were being approved for remediation and demolition, Park District officials expressed confidence the state would step up with additional money.
Initial asbestos removal and demolition targets buildings nearest Harlem and 183rd, including the large, round Spruce Hall, which included the medical center, and the large administration fronting 183rd.
Spruce Hall had been pressed into service to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, serving as dormitory and general living space.
Maple Hall, a tall building between Spruce Hall and the administration center, is also targeted among the first structures slated to come down.
