The Lake Forest City Council has taken another step toward moving its police headquarters with the $3.5 million acquisition of an empty building in the Conway Park office complex.
On July 15, the City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a now vacant three-story building at 1925 Field Court. The $3.5 million purchase puts the city in position to convert the nearly 100,000 square structure into the city’s police headquarters as part of a project where total costs are estimated to go well over $30 million.
The City Council authorized the purchase of the building, as city officials believe the longtime police headquarters at 255 E. Deerpath Road no longer meets the needs of a modern force.
The city faced limited options for a new location of its headquarters, according to Alderman Nancy Novit, 1st.
“We have a land-use issue,” she said. “There really is nowhere else to put a new police department, at least at this moment.”
With the interest in moving the police, the city also believes it is taking advantage of a break in the real estate market, being able to buy the Conway Park building at $3.5 million following a $12.5 million appraisal in 2022.
“There is a high likelihood this opportunity won’t be available three to five years from now,” City Manager Jason Wicha said.
However, the purchase represents only one part of the entire project as the 100,000-square-foot building will require extensive renovations to make it conducive for a police headquarters.
A facility condition assessment and space needs analysis completed for the city as part of due diligence examination identified categories of “need to have” spaces, and rooms tied into police responsibilities that would take up about 50,000 square feet. Separately, there were “nice to have” categories taking up about nearly 60,000 square feet.
Depending on the scope of the project ultimately selected, the city estimates renovation costs between $24.48 million and $28.82 million that would have to be approved by the City Council.
Other associated expenses with the purchase of the building include an estimated $6.2 million for ongoing capital asset maintenance over 10 years, and everyday maintenance such as janitorial services would be about $252,000 a year.
Finally, the city’s fire department would remain in the Deerpath Road building, even if the police move out. City officials have said they do not know how much it will cost to renovate the building as a standalone fire department facility.
Still, the city states the “adaptive reuse” would cost less than construction of a new building, which they estimated at between $41.6 million and $51.6 million. However, it did not specify how the city would fund the entire endeavor.
“We don’t have answers to those questions tonight,” Wicha said. “Those will be fleshed out over the next year or so.”
Finance Director Elizabeth Holleb told council members the city could tap into reserves, along with issuing either 10- or 15-year bonds. She said the annual impact on the taxpayer of an $800,000 home would be between $163 and $272 for a 15-year bond, and $219 and $366 for a 10-year bond, based on current interest rates. Holleb said that would be phased in over three years, starting in 2025.
Holleb noted there is hope interest rates will go down to lower the bond interest costs. She added the city plans to explore for potential public/private partnerships to assist with the financing.
Plus, city officials believe they will be able to lease out some of the building’s unused space to another organization.
“We are confident that we will be able to find the right tenant to fill some of the space,” Wicha said.
The City Council is moving ahead with the purchase following last year’s approval of a $16 million renovation of Deerpath Community Park. Also, property taxpayers are seeing the initial impact of the $105.7 million upgrade of Lake Forest High School approved by voters in a bond sale last year.
“When other tax bodies issue debt, they don’t consider what we are doing. But we consider what they have done, and how it affects our taxpayers, and how we are going to allocate debt over time,” Tack said at the meeting.
While joining all the other council members in supporting the building purchase, Alderman Ara Goshgarian, 3rd, spoke about the larger expenditures coming up.
“It is incumbent on us to put up those financial guardrails,” he said.
Tom Kranz, a city resident, stated his financial concerns and suggested the city invest more in technology, such as drones, for law enforcement.
“The residents of this community are really not for increasing taxes, and I really think that you should ask do we really need this, and are there other ways to patrol and take care of our residents besides building a bigger building,” he said.
Other residents asked about moving the police headquarters away from its current location in the middle of Lake Forest and into Conway Park. The fear centered around longer response times, particularly for the local schools.
“That’s a worst-case scenario, but you have to plan for that,” Susan Daly said.
Interim Police Chief Michael Lange said officers are constantly on patrol throughout the city, but left the door open to future changes.
“We are in a constant of evaluating how well we are serving the community,” he said.
With the building purchase, the next steps in the design process include the city getting requests for proposals for architectural services, design work and construction plans ahead of bids going before the City Council next summer.
“The city has no intention of rushing the design process. We want to ensure that it is done correctly with appropriate community input,” Wicha said after the meeting.
Wicha added the police department could move in sometime in 2026.