Rosemont borrowing $75 million for new police station, other projects

Rosemont trustees Wednesday authorized borrowing up to $75 million for a host of capital projects, including $40 million for a new public safety department headquarters north of the Allstate Arena.

The one-story, 100,000-square-foot building would be situated between Lyndon Avenue and Barry Street, north of Lunt Avenue in an area that's largely been cleared of a series of interconnected light industrial buildings.

The village has been buying the sites in recent years at $350,000 a pop to make way for the new police facility. Only two of about 20 buildings remain, but the businesses housed there are scheduled to vacate by November and February, respectively, according to Mayor Brad Stephens.

Architectural design work for the new building is nearly complete. Stephens said he plans to visit other police facilities soon to see designs the Rosemont building is being modeled after.

The new facility will essentially double the size of the department's current headquarters, which operates on several floors of village hall at 9501 W. Devon Ave. Plans call for training space, a shooting range, and more room for booking and processing arrestees.

Rosemont officials also are in discussions with NORCOMM Public Safety Communications, which runs its private dispatch center from the Leyden Fire Protection District firehouse in Franklin Park, to relocate to an 18,000-square-foot space within the new Rosemont building. After years of operating its own dispatch center, Rosemont officially flipped the switch over to NORCOMM in August.

Construction would start next year with an opening scheduled for mid-2022.

At least $20 million of the borrowing package approved Wednesday is to reimburse previous village capital costs for land acquisition and other redevelopment projects, Stephens said. Village officials anticipate proceeds from a tax increment financing district will pay the debt service on their bond issue.