Officials hope winter doesn't delay Palatine's village hall work

Palatine officials say they are hopeful that workers can make important progress on the $12.7 million project to renovate the village hall before winter comes.

Director of Community Services Harry Spila said it is especially important to finish the exterior so crews can spend the winter working inside the building. Spila gave the update Monday night at the village council meeting, which was held at the Palatine police station.

"Right now it's real critical that everything falls into place," Spila said. "We can't really afford any delays or mishaps."

A minor setback occurred a month ago, when a construction crane positioned on unsecure ground slowly toppled over and struck the 63-year-old building's steel frame.

Village Manager Reid Ottesen said the crash ended up costing the workers only a couple of days because they needed to replace some steel beams.

Another delay happened last winter when the bitter February cold froze the water in workers' power washers.

"I'm pleased that we got to where we are before the weather turns," Ottesen said. "This is a critical pass for getting stuff done by winter, and that was really what we needed to make sure we were back by late spring to early summer."

Spila said the building, located at 200 E. Wood St., has been the site for a flurry of activity.

He said crews are hard at work both building up the exterior of the structure and working in its depths doing major interior work like installing the heating and cooling system, plumbing, sprinklers and electricity.

"So it's a very busy place right now," Spila said. "A lot of stuff going on and a lot of people going in and out."

Spila said the project is about 55 percent complete, with a targeted June 2016 move-in date.

"It's really starting to take shape, and we have a real good idea of what the final product is going to look like," Spila said. "Hopefully the weather and all these other things cooperate with us moving forward."