Building sale leads library to reshape plans

A building being considered for a potential new library in Vernon Hills has been sold, prompting Cook Memorial Public Library District officials to reshape their plans.

The library board had eyed a section of the former Wickes building on the 700 block of Deerpath Drive for a future facility. The new owner's plans eliminated that part of the building from contention, so officials are weighing leasing another section instead.

Library Director Dan Armstrong doesn't consider the change a setback. In fact, the space now being considered, which is between 20,000 and 25,000 square feet and faces Deerpath Drive, has advantages over the original site, he said.

"I think it's more visible, and it's closer to the street," Armstrong said.

Library leaders want to open a new facility in Vernon Hills and expand the main library in downtown Libertyville. The board intends to borrow about $12 million for the project and use annual budget surpluses to pay it back.

The panel is considering two plans.

One concept calls for the main library to be expanded by about 10,000 square feet and for a branch to be built on Deerpath Drive.

The other option has the same 10,000-square-foot expansion at the main library but would put a new 20,000-square-foot library on Aspen Drive south of Route 60 in Vernon Hills. That property is owned by the village.

The board hopes to settle on a Vernon Hills option within the next month, board President Aaron Lawlor said.

Meanwhile, Gilfillan Callahan Architects, the Rolling Meadows firm working on the project, has begun designing possible plans for the main library expansion, officials said.

One early option would put the addition over a portion of the current parking lot, Lawlor said. Such a move wouldn't reduce the number of parking spaces or dramatically affect the existing building's roofline, he said.

No plans have been formally presented to the board or approved, Lawlor said. Preliminary architectural drawings could be ready for public review by the end of the year, Armstrong said.

"We don't want to get too far along on this before we run things past the village," he said.