The soon-to-be-vacant former Rosemont village hall building is set to meet the wrecking ball early next year, after officials found it too costly to renovate for potential new office users.
The village board on Monday inked a $1.3 million demolition contract with Elgin-based Omega to tear down the eight-story building and nearby parking structure at 9501 W. Devon Ave.
The last office tenant — a local training office of Milwaukee-based grocer Roundy’s — is expected to be out by the end of the week.
The 1960s-era office building, which housed Rosemont’s government offices and public safety department from the 1980s until this year, is across the street from Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.
Such a location could be well-suited for one or more restaurants, an entertainment venue, or new office structure with better floor layouts for businesses looking to relocate, said Mayor Brad Stephens.
He’s been tossing around redevelopment ideas with Braden Real Estate Chairman/CEO Marc Offit, who serves as the village’s commercial real estate broker. Possibilities include the village acting as master developer of the site, selling to a private developer with recommendations on what should go there, or entering into some type of public-private partnership, Stephens said.
“There’s a lot of great ideas that we’ve had so far, at least we think, but we have to tear the building down first and get the site cleared,” Stephens said.
Rosemont took back ownership of the building a year ago from Northfield-based Saxony Properties, which bought the building from the village for $3.8 million a year before that. Saxony couldn’t find suitable users for the office space and lacked the cash for renovations needed to attract new tenants, Stephens said.
Village officials’ more cursory look at the property determined it is at least in need of new mechanical systems and windows, but the office floor plates are also inefficient and the cost of upgrades is likely more “than it was worth,” the mayor said.
Most village departments moved across town to the new village hall — a former Cisco Systems regional headquarters at 9501 Technology Blvd. — over the summer, including most of the tenants who had leases at the village’s Devon building. Roundy’s, which runs Mariano’s grocery stores, is among the businesses with office space in the new village hall.
Before demolition begins, crews will disassemble a 17-foot Tiffany stained glass mosaic with the Rosemont rose logo that’s above the Devon Avenue entrance. A new location for the art piece hasn’t been determined.
“I’d like to try to find maybe a wall in the lobby of the convention center or something like that that has enough depth,” Stephens said. “We can backlight it and really showcase it and make it a spectacular looking thing.”