The state has provided another $18 million to the Tinley Park-Park District to clean hazardous materials and demolish buildings on former state-owned land the district wants to use for recreational purposes.
Park officials announced the additional funding Tuesday, which comes on top of $15 million previously earmarked by the state, and said they expect no additional funds will be needed to finish the job.
The Park District has worked since late last year to remediate the site, including several buildings, of environmental hazards and to demolish structures.
“Our experts overseeing this project have worked closely with our state partners to secure enough funding to ensure we can clean up all 280 acres of land and finally restore this site for our community,” Park Board President Lisa O’Donovan said in a news release announcing the state money. “The cleanup will continue to move diligently and thoroughly to get this eyesore cleaned up after more than a decade.”
The Park District bought the state-owned site in February 2024 for $1, and work so far has included removing underground storage tanks, cleaning some buildings of environmental hazards such as asbestos and razing smaller buildings.
The 280-acre site includes the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center and Howe Developmental Center, all northwest of 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue.
“We have pledged to clean up the site without asking our residents to foot the bill, and we are grateful to the state for providing the grant funding to complete it,” said Park Board Vice President Bernie O’Boyle in the release.
Demolition so far is confined to smaller buildings at the northeast corner of the property, but will swing to the west to take in the residential buildings of the vacant Howe Developmental Center.
The Park District initially plans to redevelop 90 acres of the Howe center on the west side of the property, just east of Veterans Parkway and south of the Tinley Park 80th Avenue Metra station. 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.
Buildings that were part of the Howe Developmental Center, to the east of the Park District’s Freedom Park, are newer than the rest of the hospital property and are expected to involve less environmental remediation before being razed.
There are nearly 50 buildings on the site, ranging from smaller residential properties to large industrial buildings including the on-site power station.
The Park District previously said the $15 million originally provided by the state would not be enough to finish the job, after it got a closer look at the site.
An initial cost estimate, used to set the level of state funding, was based on data collected more than a dozen years ago, the Park District said.
The district said it didn’t have full access to the site, and that building conditions had deteriorated and vegetation had been left unchecked for several years. Much of that has been cleared and the site fenced.
Professionals hired by the district for the project were “able to better assess the work needed and found the cleanup to be more extensive than initial estimates, in order to complete the abatement and demolition work consistent with what our environmental laws require,” the district said in the news release.
Inflation, rising construction costs and work to remove the buildup of water in basements, tunnels and land throughout the site also drove up the overall cost, the district said.
