Wheeling's village hall one for the future

Standing two stories tall with a huge glass facade and a large board room inside for meetings, Wheeling's new village hall is open for business.

Officials recently finished moving staff offices into the new $16.7 million building at 2 Community Boulevard off Dundee Road.

The new village hall is comparable in size to the old one, between 44,000 and 48,000 square feet.

What's different is it brings together all village departments, including community development, finance, fire prevention bureau, administration, economic development and human resources, under the same roof. Also, the new building won't house the police and fire departments.

The old village hall at 255 W. Dundee Road housed the administration, finance, and human resources departments sharing space with the police and fire departments. The community and economic development departments were housed at the village's temporary public works garage at 233 W. Hintz Ave.

Work to rehab the old village hall building that will be used solely by the police department continues. Officials also hope to start construction on a traffic signal at the intersection at 2 Community Blvd.

Officials say an upgrade to municipal facilities was long overdue. The original village hall was built in three phases starting in 1968. Based on the size of the community and village staffing at the time, it made sense to house police and fire in the same building, said Jon Sfondilis, assistant village manager.

"As the village grew and our number of employees grew we ran out of space quickly in the old village hall building," he said.

Village hall's completion is only the first phase of a $40 million transformation of Wheeling's public facilities. A new public works garage under construction at 77 W. Hintz is expected to open in early summer. The village also will begin building a new fire station at the same time on property east of South Milwaukee Avenue, north of Hintz. All village buildings will have a prairie-style theme.

The site of the new village hall was secured in a land-swap agreement with the Wheeling Park District in exchange for the original public works garage at 255 W. Dundee Road. That building has been demolished and the site is being cleaned to be reused for recreation as part of Heritage Park.

Officials plan a village hall open house and gala in May at a date yet to be determined.

"We wanted to wait until the flowers started to bloom and our landscaping really started its growth," Sfondilis said. "There's no art yet on the wall. There are still large orange crates around the office."

Wheeling High School students will provide the artwork, photographing landscapes and architecture in town to deck hallways, conference rooms and public spaces.

"The only art on the walls will be black and white photography from the students," Sfondilis said.

Wheeling High School will repeat the program every two years.

"We think this is an ongoing relationship with the high school that certainly benefits the community and gives a platform for the students to show off their work," Sfondilis said.