Burr Ridge Off By $5M On New Village Hall, Project Up In Air

BURR RIDGE, IL – The bids for Burr Ridge's new Village Hall are more than $5 million over what the architect projected, the mayor announced Tuesday.

Legat Architects' projected cost was $8.5 million, but the lowest bidder, Cicero-based Staalsen Construction, came in at $13.8 million.

A dozen companies bid, with the opening on Sept. 24. More than half the bids ranged from $15.7 million to $17.2 million.

This puts the project up in the air. Earlier this year, village employees moved out of the 41-year-old Village Hall to the public works office on Commerce Street. And the board has been meeting at Gower Middle School.

Later this year, the Village Hall's sale to the Goddard preschool chain is expected to close.

The new village offices were set to be attached to the next-door police station, built 16 years ago.

In September, the village revealed that the new Village Hall would be finished as late as March 2028. The original timeline called for it to be done by next July.

In a statement posted to the village's website Tuesday, Mayor Gary Grasso asked the Village Board to reject the bids at next week's meeting. The bids, he said, don't serve residents.

He also said the board should ask the village's staff to present an alternative plan for a new Village Hall in a month.

"While the Village remains committed to developing a Village Hall commensurate with the community's status, we cannot ignore the projected cost of the current project's scope," Grasso said. "We must adjust accordingly."

The debt-free village has said it will have the money on hand to pay for the project.

Last year, the village determined it wasn't worth taxpayers' money to renovate the current Village Hall.

Goddard agreed to buy the building for $2.7 million.

The preschool plans to enroll 120 to 180 children and employ 20 to 30 staff, the village said.