This La Grange Park Building Eyed For Rec Center

LA GRANGE PARK, IL — The American Nuclear Society is selling its La Grange Park headquarters on North Kensington Avenue after more than four decades there.

In an email Wednesday to Patch, the society said it has no relocation site yet, but is looking in Chicago's suburbs.

Also Wednesday, the Community Park District of La Grange Park held an open house on the possibilities for the building. The park district is considering the 27,000-square-foot building as a possible site for an indoor recreation center, which has been identified as a need, said Jessica Cannaday, the district's executive director.

"We're still in the evaluation stage," Cannaday said in an interview. "People are interested in preserving the facility. We want to hear what residents have to say."

The LoopNet commercial website lists the society's property as for sale, but the price is only available upon request. It sits on 1.4 acres.

According to the society's website, the building was the site of Oak Avenue Elementary School from 1929 to 1976. The society moved into the structure in 1977. The society agreed not to to change any of the building's exterior surfaces after buying it, a promise the group has "faithfully upheld," the website said.

The property is zoned for single-family housing and would need a special use permit for uses that do not fall under such zoning, according to the village.

"If it's even a possibility for the district, we don't know if we could get the zoning to make it happen," Cannaday said.