Why Buffalo Grove is buying warehouse for $13 million to house public works

Buffalo Grove officials plan to spend more than $13 million to buy a vacant warehouse set to become the new headquarters of the village's public works department.

Village trustees will vote Monday to approve a purchase agreement with the owner of the warehouse property at 1650 Leider Lane. Once the purchase is finalized, the 173,000-square-foot industrial building will undergo renovations to turn it into the new home base of public works operations.

The remodeled warehouse would replace the existing Public Service Center, an antiquated and undersized facility that opened in 1976, village officials say. Since then, the village's population has more than tripled, and public works staff and equipment have grown, resulting in a space shortage for storage and other needs, officials say.

Retrofitting the warehouse would "come at a significantly lower cost" than building a new public works facility from the ground up, Deputy Village Manager Christopher Stilling wrote in a May 5 memo on the project.

"The purchase and reuse of an existing building meets our long-term service needs, while delivering the best value to our residents," Village Manager Dane Bragg said in a statement.

The 9.5-acre warehouse site provides quick access to the larger state and county streets in Buffalo Grove. That means public works crews could move throughout the village efficiently, officials say.

The village expects public works would start operating out of the Leider Lane location within the next two years.

But first, the village plans to do a site investigation over the next 60 to 90 days as part of a due diligence process before the purchase is finalized. The village board also will vote Monday on spending up to $125,000 for those expenses.

Contractors would help further evaluate the warehouse structure, which has been vacant for more than two years, for potential deficiencies.

The village had been represented by real estate brokerage firm Colliers International in its search for a new public works headquarters. The village would pay the firm a 2% commission, or $263,000 based on a purchase price of $13.15 million, if the village closes on the property.

Trustees have not determined yet the future use of the Public Service Center at 51 Raupp Boulevard. Public works would continue to operate there during the remodeling project.