Glenview board to consider Bess Building demolition
The Village of Glenview board of trustees will consider an agenda item authorizing the demolition of the building at 1850 Glenview Road, otherwise known as the Bess Building, at its meeting on Thursday.
The village owns the nearly 1-acre property on the northwest corner of Glenview Road and Pine Street, formerly owned by Bess Hardware and vacant for the past 10 years.
On March 3, the village board approved a 68-unit mixed-use development for the site. Glenview firm The Drake Group has purchased the contract for the development.
"The village has been trying to get this very important corner redeveloped for many years now because it is an eyesore and it continues to be an eyesore," said Lynne Stiefel, communications manager for the Village of Glenview.
The building has two furnaces that over the past two years the village has spent $3,382 to maintain, with an estimated ongoing expense of $10,000 to maintain the furnaces plus $18,000 to fix a leaking roof. A third furnace is inoperable.
"We believe it's appropriate to demolish the building. It's dilapidated, and the ongoing cost to maintain it is unnecessary. Winter is coming and we want the property to be in a safe condition," Stiefel said.
The resolution the board will consider on Thursday would award a contract of $78,650 to Fowler Services Inc. of Elgin to complete the demolition. The project's timeline sets completion in December.
Demolition initially was estimated to cost $50,000, split between $25,000 in Drake escrow funds and the remainder from village money, to be reimbursed by Drake upon the property's closing.
However, asbestos was found in floor tile, mastic and roof sealant, boosting the total demolition costs to $78,650 with the village's initial portion to be $53,650.
Meanwhile, 1850 Glenview Road remains the subject of a lawsuit filed against the Village of Glenview by The Law Offices of William J. Seitz LLC on behalf of five individuals and two neighboring townhouse associations including the adjacent Station Place Townhomes.
On Oct. 23 a Cook County circuit court ruled that the plaintiff's motion to exceed a 15-page limit for case filing and the village's motion to dismiss the suit both would be addressed on Feb. 4, 2021.
While the village states the lawsuit has nothing to do with the demolition, Seitz, of Glenview, disagrees.
"The demolition is just another part of the process the village is undertaking that the developer should be doing," he said.
"My issue is the village is not maintaining the status quo," Seitz said. "The village is undertaking additional responsibilities for this property that the developer should be having."
Seitz's main point is the need to demolish the building with haste.
"This is as much of a political statement as anything else," he said. "There's no urgency in demolishing this building."