Lake Forest officials have taken a big step toward moving their police headquarters by starting the process of a potential $3.5 million purchase of a vacant office building in the Conway Park office complex.
On Monday, the City Council unanimously approved a series of actions highlighted by a purchase and sale agreement with DP West Lake at Conway for the envisioned acquisition and adaptive reuse of the three-story building at 1925 Field Court.
The action comes after last month’s council meeting, when Lake Forest Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack spoke of the city’s need for a new police headquarters.
“The process has moved considerably faster than anticipated,” he said at Monday’s meeting.
City officials believe that the 98,300-square-foot building with 66 underground parking spaces could serve as the police headquarters for the next 40 years, according to city documents. If the building is purchased, the city may explore inviting other public safety agencies to move into some of the excess building space.
The Field Court building was constructed in 2008, but has been vacant since 2022, according to city officials.
The city and the building owner have settled on a $3.5 million price for the property, which was appraised at $12.5 million in 2022, per city documents.
However, before the building is purchased, the City Council approved a site assessment and space needs analysis with private firms set to be performed over the next 90 days. City officials believe the site assessment will provide a better idea of how much it will cost to retrofit the existing building into a modern police facility.
“We are just in the beginning of this process,” Alderman Ara Goshgarian, 3rd, said. “We have to do our due diligence.”
City Manager Jason Wicha said the city considered several options, including constructing a new building, but ultimately decided to do an adaptive reuse believing that would lead to cost savings, an availability of office buildings and environmental benefits.
City officials are considering the move of the police safety headquarters believing the current building at 255 W. Deerpath Road is not a long-term option.
Deputy Police Chief Mike Lange — who is scheduled to become acting chief later this month upon the retirement of current chief Karl Walldorf — spoke to the council about the issues he saw with the Deerpath Road facility, which was built in the 1960s.
Lange cited a series of problems including limited training space, small private meeting areas and that the existing classroom can only accommodate up to 15 people. He said the department could have other needs in the future as police methods evolve.
He added Lake Forest, like many communities, faces a challenge in finding new police officers, and he hopes potential hires would want to work in a modern building.
“I think it will allow us to attract that higher-level candidate,” Lange said.
The council supported taking the initial steps toward the acquisition of the building.
“I do see this as … an opportunity to accomplish a big thing in the most fiscally responsible way possible,” added Alderwoman Nancy Novit, 1st.
The Deerpath Road building also serves as the headquarters for the city’s fire department. Plans are for the fire department to remain in that facility. However, the city would likely have to retrofit it as well as a single-use facility.
It is unknown how much that would cost, city spokeswoman Dana Olson noted.
“That is something down the road we can look at,” she said.
Wicha said city officials could close on the acquisition sometime in late summer following the space needs and site assessment.
