At long last, Palatine's Falcon rec center on way

The blueprints have been drafted and financing secured, making way for a new Palatine community center in the works for nearly 15 years.

The park district is just days away from putting out bids on the Falcon Recreational Center, meaning construction could start this fall.

"We're anxious to get started," said Pat Moser, parks and planning superintendent.

The 49,200-square-foot center, which comes with a $12.5 million price tag, will be built just east of the future Toyota dealership at Hicks and Rand roads, a densely populated but underserved section of the village.

The main attraction is sure to be the indoor turf field, ideal for soccer and lacrosse leagues. Other amenities include a gymnasium with basketball and volleyball courts, track and multipurpose room.

If all goes according to plan, spin classes and preschool art courses will be offered in early 2010.

To the disappointment of many residents, an indoor pool is not in the works, despite the public's input. It would've eaten up most of the budget, park district Commissioner Andy McPherson said.

"People are upset about it and you can count me as one of them," he said. "But at the end of the day, there are only so many dollars, and we had to prioritize."

Officials never seriously considered turning to a referendum for financing, and certainly not for a pool. However, McPherson said residents will see a "very minor" tax increase, since the district is activating some borrowing ability that it hasn't had to levy for in recent years. About $10 million in bonds will be sold, with the balance coming from cash reserves.

There's been growing pressure to move forward with the project since the park district bought the 14-acre site for about $5 million back in 2004. Several homes were demolished to make way for the center, but Falcon Park remains a patch of grass, trees and an unpaved parking lot.

"It took us a while to get our arms around that amount of debt," said McPherson. "We had to be certain we could manage it correctly."

In the meantime, the park district has served northeast Palatine through partnerships with the Palatine Opportunity Center and YMCA, among others.

The Palatine Park District serves about 83,000 residents in Palatine and parts of Inverness, Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg.