Voters Approve Township Purchase of Oak Park Avenue Building

Oak Parkers gave overwhelming approval to an  plan to buy a building in the 100 block of South Oak Park Avenue and turn it into a hub for senior activities.

Township officials will now put into motion a $1.2 million plan that moves its programs and services from the Oak Park Arms to a two-story building, located at 126-134 S. Oak Park Ave. and across the street from the Township's main offices. 

On Wednesday, the township conducted a special meeting at the Oak Park Public Library's  in accordance with a state law mandating at least 15 registered voters cast a vote on the purchase of the property. 

About 150 showed up.

“This will be a real benefit to the entire community,” said Galen Gockel, a former Oak Park trustee and one of the plan's many supporters who packed the meeting. 

The new facility, supporters said, will be a bright and welcoming space that will bring more foot traffic to South Oak Park Avenue and better serve the village's growing senior population.

But Brandy Masoncup, president of the Avenue Business Association, which represents businesses along Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue area, was hoping the township would look elsewhere.

The building once housed a laundromat and vacuum cleaner repair shop. It was slated to become condominiums before falling into foreclosure in 2009, township supervisor F. David Boulanger said.

Nevertheless, Masoncup said the building was going to be an important part of the association's strategy to revitalize the area. She suggested the township consider buying vacant property at 721 South Blvd, just east of the intersection of South and Oak Park Avenue, and build a new facility.   

Township trustee Eric Davis said later the option was explored but found to be too costly. (In fact, township officials said they'd explored several other possibilities for a new senior services building since the late 1990s, including the now-vacant Comcast building, the former site of Foley-Rice Cadillac at 711 Madison St., the , the , various facilities and the West Cook YMCA.)

Now, Oak Park Township will purchase the South Oak Park Avenue building later this month for $650,000 and officials said they anticipate sinking an estimated $500,000 into gutting the first floor for activity space, installing an elevator and fixing the bathrooms. Parking will be available in the back.

 The project's total cost is expected to reach $1.2 million, township officials said.

Work is expected to begin this summer, and officials are hopeful they'll be in the new space by June 2012. 

When completed, the first floor of the renovated space will house senior programs on weekdays, alleviating a longstanding gripe at the Oak Park Arms, where senior activities were held on the fifth and sixth floors since 1994 — and the township has paid about $120,000 annually in rent. 

Family and youth intervention programs will use the space in the evening. Employees working on township programs will have offices on the second floor.

Kate Kaltenbach is a township program volunteer who turned out for Wednesday's meeting. She said she's been stuck on the Oak Park Arms elevator more than once. 

So the benefits of a new, more accessible facility can't be overlooked. 

“I think it will attract more people," she said.