Palatine village hall reopens Monday after 21 month renovation project
After 21 months of exile, Palatine village employees and residents will return on Monday to Palatine Village Hall at 200 E. Wood St., where a $12.7 million renovation has given the 64-year-old building a bright new lease on life.
For nearly two years, the village government has been working out of the former BMO Harris Bank building at 150 W. Wilson St., less than a third of the size of village hall - and a place employees are happy to be leaving behind.
Mary May, customer service supervisor for the community services department, said the workspaces are so cramped she can't open a file folder on her desk - and workers have no room to display personal effects.
"It's been so sterile here," she added Thursday, during her last day at the temporary village hall. "We have no windows. We're looking forward to natural sunlight."
There is no shortage of natural light in the rehabbed village hall on Wood Street. Sunlight pours in through large windows in the front entrance, perhaps the most altered part of the building.
Village Manager Reid Ottesen said the new interior is designed to have a logical flow. Stepping through the main entrance, visitors plan their route with signs and a TV displaying that day's events or meeting schedule.
The public can get check out the changes for themselves when the village opens for business on Monday.
Ottesen said an official celebration will be scheduled after some final detail work is finished.
Meanwhile, the future of the temporary village hall is not known. Ottesen said the village might sell it, use it for a parking resource or redevelop it in some other way.
When the village first acquired 150 W. Wilson St. the village council considered building a new village hall there, but it would have been more expensive than the renovation.
"We ended up taking advantage of the space that was here," Ottesen said, adding it was $8 million to $9 million cheaper than the alternative.
Village hall will be closed Friday for the move.