The Lake Forest City Council has approved a nearly $1.6 million contract with an architectural firm in another step toward renovating a vacant Conway Park office building and converting it into the city’s new police headquarters.
On Sept. 16, the City Council unanimously supported a $1,556,660 contract with Chicago-based Cordogan Clark & Associates to work with the police department for designing the new space as well as preparing construction plans and supplying cost estimates to retrofit the building located at 1925 Field Court.
In July, aldermen approved a $3.5 million purchase of the building and the City closed on the purchase last week, according to a community e-mail sent out late last week.
City officials believe the police department needs a larger facility than its current location at 255 Deerpath Road, which it shares with the fire department.
With the design contract, the City will explore how to renovate the Field Court building into a police facility in a project the City currently estimates will cost between $24.5 million to $28.8 million, depending on the project scope.
Assistant Public Works Director James Lockefeer told the City Council, eight bids were received for the project and all staff members recommended Cordogan Clark.
He noted the firm has experience working on large municipal projects including police stations including adaptive reuse of Yorkville police station and designing new stations in Aurora, Peru and Elburn.
Lockefeer added the endorsement was also based on long-term planning, a creative design approach, and meeting budget targets in previous efforts.
“They spent a lot of time talking about a progressive design with that design budget constantly in mind and being that key decision-making factor,” he said.
Alderman Alice LeVert, 3rd, asked about the staff support of the Cordogan Clark bid, which was the fourth lowest of the bids, with the smallest one being nearly $400,000 lower.
Lockefeer said the staff discussed the other bids but believed Cordogan Clark was viewed as the best long-term option.
“Our staff team felt very strongly that everything included in their proposal at that price was fair for what they were including,” he said.
City Manager Jason Wicha anticipated the final design and construction bids would go before the City Council in eight to ten months.
Wicha also noted the formation of an advisory group composed of residents with financial expertise, knowledge of police operations, and architectural and construction services to assist the city with the initiative.
Former Alderman James “Jed” Morris will be the group’s chairman with the rest of the participants set to be revealed soon, a city spokeswoman said after the meeting.
Wicha also said the City is set to begin a space needs analysis of the Deerpath Road building, as it is set to become a standalone facility for the fire department upon the police department’s move.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.