Pair of homes expands room for Glendale Heights complex

It's a homebuyer's dream: when that perfect little house goes on the market you swoop in first, make an offer and walk away with the prize.

Glendale Heights is living the dream -- times two.

The village Thursday agreed to purchase two ranch houses that infringe upon what otherwise would be a large, rectangular municipal complex.

Officials eyed them for years. They just never went up for sale.

Both houses, on Bloomingdale Road just north of Fullerton Avenue, just happened to go on the market at the same time and officials wasted no time, Village President Linda Jackson said. Within days, they'd negotiated deals to buy one of the 1950s homes for $262,000, then the other for $295,000.

They should close on the properties by early March.

Now the village just has to figure out what to do with the land.

The most likely scenario places a senior center there, which the village already began making preparations for in December with a $5 million loan. At the time, officials thought about expanding village hall.

About $3.5 million of the loan is earmarked for the senior center and the remaining money would go toward updating other parts of the municipal complex and Sports Hub, said Marty Olsen, director of community development.

The village hired architects last month to develop a "reimagined" municipal complex, and that plan is expected in late spring or early summer.

The addition of the properties, though, changes the landscape.

"It really will make a nice addition to the village," said Roger Mabbit, assistant village administrator.

There's a possibility a new building might somehow be able to incorporate the footprint of the existing homes, if it saves money, Mabbit said. Or they might find a social service organization that can buy and move them to help the community in other ways.