Forest preserve headquarters, museum to consolidate

A down real estate market could benefit the Lake County Forest Preserve District, which is pursuing the purchase of an office building in Libertyville to consolidate operations and relocate its Discovery Museum.

Beginning Monday, committees will consider the roughly $4.1 million purchase proposal for a vacant, three-story building and nearly 7 acres in the Pine Meadow Corporate Center in Libertyville.

The building at Winchester Road and Technology Way, just east of Route 45, housed Motorola for most of its 10-year life and has been available since early 2008.

"The economy has helped us in bringing the price significantly lower than we ever would have thought for a building of this quality," said Tom Hahn, the district's executive director.

The building would provide about 100,000 square feet of space and 430 public parking spaces. The price equates to about $40 per square foot. Renting office space of that type typically costs two to three times that amount, and a new building is five to six times that price, according to the district.

The district has been looking for some time for new facilities to consolidate offices now in scattered sites throughout Lake County, mostly in old homes and farm buildings. Forest district staff wastes an estimated 4,000 hours each year traveling between the eight buildings that will be consolidated, according to the district.

Holdings include the central office, which is in a 1920s-era home once owned by meat packing magnate David Armour in a wooded setting on Milwaukee Avenue north of Route 137 in Libertyville.

The facilities need ongoing maintenance and in some cases replacement of heating and cooling or septic systems, for example. The district estimates it would save nearly $900,000 in immediate repairs and renovations and $1 million in operating costs over five years.

"Yes, we're going to spend some money now, but it will save us in the long run," Hahn said.

When it moved into its general offices in the late 1970s, the district owned about 2,600 acres, or about a tenth of its current holdings.

Besides increasing the efficiency of general operations, the Libertyville building will allow for a substantial expansion of the Discovery Museum, which has millions of dollars in items including the nationally known Curt Teich Postcard Archives.

Only 8 percent of the museum's extensive holding are on display at the museum, housed in an old farm building at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda.

"The Teich Archives are a national treasure that we're storing in a farm house," said Katherine Hamilton-Smith, director of cultural resources. "The issues are heat, humidity, fire safety - some of the insulation in the main building is sawdust."

The relocation of a "re-branded and reconfigured" museum would allow for twice the exhibit space, as well as venues for sculpture and paintings, for example.

"We estimate the attendance at this facility once it's open, would triple," from the current 45,000 annual visitors, Hahn said.

Private donations will be used to fund that relocation, which is planned to occur in two to three years. The consolidation of the district's 115 office staffers would take place over the next year.

The purchase is contingent on: approval of four forest preserve committees and the full forest district commission board; safety, structural and environmental inspections; and, a final closing on the sale, scheduled for June.

Forest district President Bonnie Thomson Carter said the move would be "by far the most cost-effective long-term solution," to the infrastructure issues.

She said the cost would not be paid with funds approved by voters in a November 2008 referendum. Use of those funds is restricted to buying land, restoring habitats, creating new trails and other improvements.

Instead, capital funds that have been targeted for consolidating facilities will be used.

"It's money we've save for this purpose for 10 years," she said.