Elk Grove VFW relocates after ComEd buys property for new substation

Elk Grove VFW Post 9284 — long a presence on Devon Avenue — is moving to a smaller storefront space in the center of town to make way for a new ComEd electrical substation.

The utility company paid $7.25 million for the veterans hall and adjoining parking lot at 400 E. Devon Ave., Cook County property records show and ComEd officials confirmed. Those are two out of six parcels the utility acquired in late May and early June along the north side of Devon, east of Ridge Avenue, for what would be the fourth substation in the Northwest suburb alone (two others are already under construction).

ComEd paid the same amount for other single 1.3-acre parcels — $3.625 million each — including a vacant village-owned site and landscaper Salvatore Genualdi’s property, records show. Sale prices weren’t listed for the Prairie Lake School’s two properties: an old union hall and Putt Putt miniature golf course office building.

ComEd spokesman David O’Dowd said the location is advantageous because it is adjacent to existing power lines and ComEd right of way. The new station is needed due to the “large amount of economic growth” in communities just west of O’Hare International Airport, he said.

For the VFW post, that means leaving the 3-story brick building it’s called home for more than a half-century. The first meeting was held there in July 1973, after the post rented space for a decade at the Salt Creek Country Club.

Post members searched around town for a new meeting hall location, and credited village officials with helping find their new 3,000-square-foot space at 960 Elk Grove Town Center, the shopping center near Arlington Heights and Biesterfield roads.

Movers started bringing things to the new place late last week, and on Thursday, a post member who answered the phone at the old hall said they were in the process of trying to get rid of the little that remains after a closing sale. They turn the keys over to ComEd Aug. 1.

In finding a new meeting spot, a single-story building was a must for the post’s aging membership, many now in their 80s.

But the relocation also means an end to the popular Friday night fish frys and rib dinners that were open to the public. A restaurant and bar won’t be part of the new post.

“It’s not the same. It’s going to be a different post,” Commander Alexander Brenke told the village board last week, when trustees approved three new exterior signs for the front of the facility. “We’re going back to our core values of assisting veterans and their families.”

The post is planning an open house and grand opening event after the move-in is complete.