Police station or bus garage at Des Plaines Salvation Army site?

The Des Plaines Police Department and Pace suburban bus system have been eyeing a 17-acre property on the city's west side as a way to address their needs for more space, officials said this week.

The land and three office buildings at the northwest corner of Algonquin and Mount Prospect roads will become available this fall when the Salvation Army moves its central territory administration headquarters to a business park on Prairie Stone Parkway in Hoffman Estates.

The Des Plaines property, where the Salvation Army has been since the early 1980s, has been on the real estate market for about a year.

Des Plaines officials, including Police Chief Bill Kushner and City Manager Mike Bartholomew, toured the facility after Kushner recommended the site for a new police department headquarters and potentially an entire municipal campus that would include city hall.

The city has been looking for a new police station site for several years, in hopes of moving out of its cramped Miner Street location, built in the 1970s.

But the estimated $8 million price tag for the Salvation Army property - and another $3 million to $4 million for renovations - could be too much right now, city officials said.

"I've had long discussions with the city manager and both of us realize it's not the time to do this," Kushner said. "Especially with the governor, we really don't know what his budget cuts will entail for the city. Above all, we have to be fiscally responsible."

To fund a purchase, the city likely would have to hold a referendum asking voters to authorize a bond issue, the chief said.

Pace has considered moving its Northwest suburban bus garage from 900 E. Northwest Hwy. in Des Plaines to the Salvation Army site, confirmed George Sakas, the city's director of community and economic development.

Pace officials declined to comment about the Salvation Army property specifically but said they are hoping to expand somewhere in the Northwest suburbs. The agency has 127 buses assigned to its Des Plaines facility, though there's only indoor space for 68 buses.

"We need to replace the existing facility," said Patrick Wilmot, a Pace spokesman. "There's no secret we have been looking for some property."

But the prospect of a bus garage isn't getting a welcome reception from residents who live just west of the site, as well as the alderman who represents the neighborhood.

"At my ward meeting (last Thursday) the two words brought up were 'fumes' and 'noise,'" said 8th Ward Alderman Mike Charewicz. "We would want to know what are the hours of operation? Will there be buses at 2 a.m. pulling out of the garage hundreds of feet from residents' bedrooms?"

Charewicz said he likes the prospect of a police station there, since the department would be able to use existing buildings, instead of having to build from scratch somewhere else.

The site's three office buildings of 70,000 square feet, 46,000 square feet and 22,000 square feet would be well-suited for a municipal campus, Kushner said, and the property is especially attractive for law enforcement: one building's loading dock could be converted to a sally port to bring arrestees to jail, the property is enclosed by a secured gate, there's underground parking for 40 cars and outdoor parking for 125, and the buildings are wired for modern technology.

"It has an awful, awful, awful lot of potential," Kushner said. "I hope it becomes something more than a bus barn. But that's a decision made by people who have a higher pay grade than me."

For now, the police department is making due with the space at its downtown station. Renovations have begun on the second floor of the adjacent city hall building, where the police records division will move, freeing up more space for detectives. Bartholomew said there are ideas for future expansion downtown, such as putting on an addition to the current police station, replacing the parking deck and installing a basement for the department.

"We have some options if we need to, instead of buying a different facility," Bartholomew said. "We're working with the situation downtown because it's the most logical choice at this point. But when facilities like Salvation Army come up, we do need to take a walk through and not ignore it."

Kevin Clifton of CBRE, which is marketing the property for the Salvation Army, didn't talk about specific proposals, saying only there have been a number of interested parties but no done deal yet.

The Salvation Army, meanwhile, plans to move to its larger facility in Hoffman Estates by November. The new location allows for more flexibility with space, said Jeff Curnow, a Salvation Army spokesman.

The Des Plaines site has been used for offices for the nonprofit's central region, which includes 11 states. Social service work will continue from the Des Plaines Corps Community Center at 609 W. Dempster St., Curnow said.

The Salvation Army purchased the building on Algonquin from UOP, the petroleum products company that has a campus of buildings across Mount Prospect Road, for $1, Charewicz said. The property is zoned for manufacturing.