‘A key parcel’: Des Plaines buying building next to city hall for possible redevelopment

With possible redevelopment in mind, Des Plaines is set to buy another high-profile property in the downtown area.

This time it’s a two-story building on the 1400 block of Miner Street, just east of city hall. The city council on Monday agreed to purchase the 11,600-square-foot structure for $1.6 million.

“I think this is a key parcel that we need to be able to control in order to continue to see success downtown,” 2nd Ward Alderman Colt Moylan said before the unanimous vote.

The structure — now owned by a Chicago limited liability company called Des Plaines Mixed Use Building — occupies about a roughly quarter-acre rectangular lot. It has commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above.

Trent Hair Salon, the Pho Dung Gia Vietnamese restaurant and a restaurant called Uncork Unwind are the current commercial tenants. They’ll be able to remain at least until their leases expire, officials said.

“We have some great tenants there that we absolutely want to continue to have here in Des Plaines,” Mayor Andrew Goczkowski said. “We certainly value their presence in our community and we’re going to do what we can to keep them around.”

The apartments are occupied. The residential tenants’ leases will expire before an anticipated closing in September, but city officials agreed to cover rent for two months so they can more easily search for new places to live.

Des Plaines already owns the three-story building directly east of the structure. The former Masonic temple, which also once was home to the Leela Arts Center, cost the city $2.1 million in 2022.

City officials hope owning both buildings will create options for remodeling or redevelopment of the properties, together or separately.

“The city’s acquisition of the subject property would give it more flexibility,” spokesperson Brad Goodman said. “It could also allow for the demolition of both buildings to make way for a new multistory, mixed-use building.”

Eighth Ward Alderman Mike Charewicz noted officials don’t want to be landlords.

“This would be a great one to flip to a developer that would take over that process for us,” Charewicz said.

Money for the latest purchase will come from the city’s facilities fund.

The city owns a few other commercial buildings in the downtown area.

Perhaps most prominently, the council in 2024 agreed to spend $1.9 million to buy a historic former bank building at 678 Lee St. The structure now is being converted into a restaurant to be called The Dime.

The council also agreed last year to buy the former Leona’s restaurant building at 1504 Miner St. for $1.1 million. It has yet to be redeveloped.