Willowbrook officials will need to spend between $2.4 million and $3 million to convert the former Village Hall at 7760 Quincy St. into a much larger home for the Willowbrook Police Department.
Up until now, the village’s police force has shared the 14,149-square-foot building with municipal government. However, with the mid-February move of Willowbrook’s administrative offices to the new Village Hall at 835 Midway Drive just to the north, the Quincy Street complex can now be devoted solely to use by police.
For its new Village Hall, Willowbrook spent more than $1.5 million to transform a 1970s-era office building into the new seat of Willowbrook government. The work at the Midway Drive building included extensive interior demolition and remodeling, a new elevator, underground plumbing upgrades, a new entrance canopy and first-floor lobby, and the purchase and installation of $130,000 worth of new office furniture.
Preliminary plans for the transformation of the old Village Hall into the new police station are even more dramatic, and considerably more expensive. As outlined by Mark Bushhouse, president of Williams Architects, the renovation work will include a new roof, upgraded insulation, a backup generator powered by natural gas to supply electricity in the event of a power outage, exterior site improvements, and large-scale interior changes that will produce a new evidence room, garage, men’s and women’s locker rooms, and a large-scale training room.
“The existing (Village Board) room will be renovated into a training room,” Bushhouse said. “The main entrance will remain where it is, but we will be adding a public zone, an administrative and records area, a patrol area, and a secure detention area that is physically separated from the other parts of the building, which is how it should be.”
Bushhouse said the building will remain fully operational while the substantial changes take place, which prompted some questions from village trustee, including where people will go to pay a ticket.
“We can still have them come up to the existing window,” said Police Chief Mark Shelton. “We can work all those types of things out as we go along.”
The cost estimates presented by Bushhouse are based on assumptions that the work will not require any changes to the plumbing and sanitary sewer systems already in place. T estimate excludes a new phone system, new computers, commissioning costs, and the upgrades needed for LEED certification.
The Village Board must first draft and sign a contract with an architectural firm before moving forward with the project.
Harry Gamble is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
