Hoffman Estates board recommends $9.5 million bond issue for first of two new fire stations
Hoffman Estates trustees endorsed plans Monday to issue $9.5 million in bonds next week to pay for the construction of a replacement Fire Station 21 in Chino Park, just east of the aging firehouse at 225 Flagstaff Lane.
Debt from the bonds is expected to be paid off in 20 years from money generated by an increase in the portion of ambulance fees covered by insurance.
Deputy Village Manager Dan O’Malley said construction of the new Station 21 is anticipated to be bid this August, begin in September and reach completion about 13 months later.
After the more than half-century-old station next door is then demolished, its former site will provide additional parking rather than paving over more of the village-owned Chino Park.
“Our goal has always been to impact the park the least amount possible,” O’Malley said.
The architectural design of the new station has been in the hands of FGM Architects of Oak Brook since January. As its fee, the firm has asked for 6.8% of the construction cost. By current estimates that would bring FGM about $594,000, but its compensation will be determined by the actual cost.
Hoffman Estates Fire Chief Alan Wax said some members of the department are serving on a committee providing input on the design and preparation of the new station.
Another replacement project is anticipated in about two years for the department’s larger, more central, but nearly equally outdated Fire Station 22 at 1700 Moon Lake Blvd.
For the bigger station, a bond issue of $16 million is estimated for 2026, O’Malley said. The bonds would be repaid through a higher electricity tax rate affecting only businesses that use massive amounts of power, such as data centers. For such high-volume users, the village’s rate was recently set at the median for surrounding communities.
Hoffman Estates has two data-center campuses at different stages of development. The first building of a Microsoft campus on Lakewood Boulevard is expected to generate about $900,000 in additional revenue under the new tax when it begins operations. And Compass Datacenters is planning an even larger campus on the former site of the Sears corporate campus in the village.
The new Station 22 is planned to be built on the site of a single-story office complex at 2170, 2180 and 2190 W. Higgins Road, which the village bought in October for $2.05 million.
O’Malley said the remaining leases at that office complex are planned to be retired by fall.