Elk Grove will unveil $21 million public works building Saturday

Elk Grove Village is set to unveil the biggest part of its $135 million, multiyear infrastructure plan with the opening Saturday of a new public works building.

The $21 million, 84,854-square-foot James Paul Petri Public Works Facility, named for Elk Grove's longest-serving elected official, will hold a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. followed by public tours until 2 p.m.

At 450 E. Devon Ave., the building sits on a campus of more than seven acres that also includes a 2,500-ton salt barn and fueling station. It's the site of the former Berthold's Floral, Gift and Garden Center and neighboring Elk Grove TV and Audio Service, which closed in 2017 after the village purchased the land for $8.3 million.

Construction workers were putting the finishing touches on the building Friday as village public works employees were busy moving equipment in.

"The whole facility was built to handle the village for 50 years and beyond," Mayor Craig Johnson said.

The building doubles the amount of office and garage space for the public works department, which is relocating from the 59-year-old public works building at 600 Landmeier Road.

The new building has 54,000 square feet of garage space for 82 vehicles and trailers and 63 pieces of equipment, about 20,000 square feet of office space for 52 employees, and more than 10,000 square feet for utility and infrastructure shops including a street signs room. The facility also includes a training room, locker rooms, a fitness room and a bunk room for drivers working late snowplow shifts.

The village completed $6.6 million in renovations to its smaller 37-year-old public works building at 1635 Biesterfield Road at the end of 2017. Those upgrades included a salt dome to serve the west side of town.

Elk Grove Village officials are scheduled to hand over the keys to the old public works headquarters to Elk Grove Township next month as part of a land swap deal approved in 2017. The township plans to make the Landmeier building its new headquarters as it works to consolidate its operations into one building.

Of the village's Elk Grove 2025 long range infrastructure plan, two other big projects are scheduled for completion in the late spring or early summer: the $9 million new fire station replacing an existing station at 676 Meacham Road and a $15.6 million fire station and training tower at 700 Fargo Ave. Elk Grove will reduce the total number of fire houses in town from four to three as it consolidates the operations of stations at 1655 Greenleaf Ave. and 1000 Oakton St. into the new Fargo station.

Projects that have been completed to date include a resurfacing of John F. Kennedy and Elk Grove boulevards, the rehabilitation of the Salt Creek bridge, the reconstruction of Leicester Road, and the installation of a bicycle traffic signal detector at Devon and Ridge avenues.