Restaurant, arts center among options for old Mundelein village hall
Mundelein officials are keeping their options open when it comes to the future of the old village hall.
Trustees on Monday will consider launching a marketing plan for the property at 440 E. Hawley St. as a potential site for a new restaurant.
Along the same lines, board members will discuss whether that stretch of Hawley Street should be turned into or advertised as a restaurant row, similar to those in Libertyville, Lincolnshire and Wheeling.
Finally, trustees will consider creating an arts and cultural commission as a precursor to turning the Alpine-style building into an arts center.
These options were recommended by a committee that studied what to do with the building, which was replaced by a new village hall at 300 Plaza Circle last summer. The group made a public pitch for the options in March.
The old building had served as the village's headquarters since 1929.
The committee's top recommendations were for a restaurant or arts center. But either project will be expensive - possibly more than $800,000 at the high end.
Conversely, demolishing the structure could cost $158,000, the group reported.
Residents surveyed about the building's fate overwhelmingly opposed spending tax money on the building, according to the committee report.
About half the people who took the survey wanted to save the building, the report said, while the other half thought it should be demolished or sold.
The 81-page report is available on the village's website, mundelein.org.
Monday's board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the new village hall.