Pingree Grove hopes to break ground soon on new municipal center

Village officials in Pingree Grove hope to break ground next month on a new municipal center that will include village hall and public works.

The current village hall is housed in two double-wide trailers, an accommodation that was supposed to be temporary but lasted more than a decade, Village President Steve Wiedmeyer said.

"It was supposed to be a three- to four-year solution and this was year 13 that we're on ..." Wiedmeyer said. "It's great to see it come to fruition and actually break ground. This is the biggest capital project that Pingree Grove has ever undertaken."

The village has allocated $4.1 million to the project, including $3 million in 20-year municipal bonds and $1.1 million from developer D.R. Horton, whose donation was stipulated in the latest development annexation agreement, Wiedmeyer said.

The 27,000-square-foot municipal center will be built on village-owned land along Reinking Road north of Water Street, about half-mile north of the current village hall at 14N042 Reinking Road. If all proceeds on schedule, completion is anticipated in late February with move-in in March, Wiedmeyer said.

The building will include administrative offices, a village board meeting room and a large garage for public works equipment, which currently is housed in a rented warehouse in Elgin just outside Pingree Grove, Wiedmeyer said. "When he have a snow event here in Pingree Grove, we have to drive down there to get the snow plows," he said.

The project's team comprises Kluber Architects + Engineers, Lamp Inc. and Mackie Consultants, the same team that last year built a new public works facility with administrative offices in South Elgin. The village board tasked Lamp Inc. with soliciting and managing bids, which village officials hope will be low enough to allow inclusion of an indoor salt dome, Plaza said.

Salt is currently stored in a building that also stores wastewater sludge, which increases as the village - now with an estimated 7,500 residents - continues to grow, Wiedmeyer said.

The village plans to request proposals for the site of the current village hall, Wiedmeyer said.