Obama library archives may find temporary home in Hoffman Estates
The long-vacant Plunkett Furniture building on Golf Road in Hoffman Estates could become the temporary holding facility for the Barack Obama presidential library's archives, Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod confirmed Thursday.
"It's kind of exciting," McLeod said. "We first heard about this a few months ago, and were amazed that this may happen, but it may happen. It's pretty cool. An Illinois president - a local guy - and an Illinois location."
Village planners met Thursday with representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration about the special-use permit the federal agency needs to occupy the 74,200-square-foot former furniture store at 2500 W. Golf Road for five to six years, McLeod said.
At the end of that period, the archived materials would move to the completed Barack Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago near the University of Chicago. The exact location of the library is expected to be announced later this year.
Preparations for the use of the Plunkett Furniture building - where approximately 120 people are expected to work assessing the archived materials - would include gating the parking lot and making the building more secure, McLeod said. The facility is not expected to be open to the public for viewing of the materials.
The building is owned by a doctors' group which would lease the building to the National Archives and Records Administration for the required period, he added.
Granting of the special-use permit will require the administration to go through the usual planning and zoning review process. Those making the proposal are eager to begin the process as soon as possible, McLeod said.
Representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration declined to comment Thursday.