Sycamore school district hires architect to assess new admin building

SYCAMORE – The architecture firm behind the new Sycamore Fire Station has been contracted to assess a former Nicor building the Sycamore Community School District bought in 2024 to house district administration offices.

The building sustained storm damage earlier this spring.

On June 24, the Sycamore board of education approved a $23,000 contract with Oak Brook-based FGM Architects to assess the condition of the building at 1947 Bethany Road. The district bought the building in May 2024, documents show.

The architecture firm is expected to report its findings to the district by Sept. 26, documents show, though board member Alex Grados sought to move up that timeline at a recent school board meeting.

“I guess I’d like before we go sell the current building, or renovate the new one, to have an apples-to-apples comparison on what those costs would be at the new one,” Grados said.

Officials said the district had previously contracted OakBrook-based FGM Architects for an assessment of the current administrative building located at 245 W. Exchange St. – formerly Central School – and wanted that service completed on the former Nicor building.

The district in June hosted a farewell to the former Central School, “a living piece of history,” board president Michael DeVito said.

Grados also asked for the architecture firm to present a summary of anticipated facility costs for two buildings through 2035.

The district published a notice of public sale of the Central School property on April 29 and accepted closed bids for the building until May 16. Sycamore school district did not respond by press time Tuesday to a public records request from Shaw Local for the bid documents.

District administrative staff had planned to transition into the former Nicor building earlier this year, but the move was delayed when severe storms this spring “created some leaks” in the building, Superintendent Steve Wilder said in a June interview.

That move is now expected to be completed later this month.

Wilder previously said the heating and cooling, plumbing and other mechanical systems installed in the former Central School building had to be retrofitted to the nearly century-old building. Grados said he worries that some of the systems in the former Nicor building could be in worse shape, however.

“The mechanicals at the new building are older, so just having that comparison, I think would be helpful for the board to make a fully informed decision,” Grados said.