Mundelein buying downtown parcel for future village hall

Mundelein village leaders have agreed to purchase yet another piece of land in the downtown area, with hopes it one day will be home to a new village hall.

The 10-acre site at 225 E. Hawley St. will cost the village about $7 million. Officials said they'll take out a loan to cover the purchase.

A business called Sigma Services now operates on the property. As part of the purchase deal, the firm will relocate to a nearby village-owned site, at 165 N. Archer St., Village Administrator John Lobaito said.

The two parcels are separated by the parking lot for the Metra train station on Archer Avenue. The village also owns that parking lot.

The deals are part of the village's ongoing redevelopment plan for the downtown area, Lobaito said.

The current Sigma Services building will be razed and two new buildings will be erected on the land, Lobaito said. One could be a new village hall, he said.

Village officials have wanted to move out of the existing village hall at 440 E. Hawley St. for years, saying it's too small and antiquated.

There are no architectural plans for a new village hall, nor is there a construction timetable.

The other proposed building on the 225 E. Hawley Street site will be reserved for an environmental restoration and construction firm called Weston Solutions that wants to relocate an office from Vernon Hills, Lobaito said.

In June 2009, the village agreed to partner with Weston Solutions to pursue a site that could house both the business and the municipal offices. Officials had eyed the Sigma Services site from the beginning of the partnership.

Other tenants also could be brought in, Lobaito said.

The purchase was approved Monday night with a 5-1 vote. Trustee Ray Semple cast the lone "no" vote.

Trustee Terri Voss was among the plan's supporters.

"We've heard from so many people that we need to do something with the downtown," she said the day after the vote. "And this is a big step to getting it done."

The related leasing deal for Sigma and the Archer Avenue property was approved unanimously. A second lease for that site, with a company called Eternabond, also passed unanimously.

In 2005, the village spent more than $5 million to buy the vacant building on Archer Avenue, intending to relocate there. The plan was nixed in 2007, however, and the building remained unused.

It once had been used by a company called Anatol Automation.