Yorkville poised to start new city hall project

YORKVILLE – Renovation work is expected to get underway in March to transform a vacant professional office building into the new Yorkville City Hall and police headquarters.

The three-story building at 651 Prairie Pointe Drive on the city’s far northeast side will replace the hopelessly overcrowded facility at 800 Game Farm Road.

The 41,000-square-foot office building sits on a four-acre site and is surrounded by roughly 200 parking spaces.

“We’re doubling the size of our city hall and police station,” Yorkville Facilities Manager Steve Raasch said.

From six contractors, Lite Construction of Montgomery submitted the low bid of $5.2 million to perform the renovations.

The Yorkville City Council is expected to approve the construction contract at its March 8 meeting, as well as the purchase of furnishings for the entire building from Groupe Lancasse of Chicago for $426,000.

Last November, city aldermen delayed the furniture purchase, preferring to wait until the construction bids had been received.

Lancasse’s price guarantee for the furniture, which includes freight, delivery, installation and a 25-year warranty, was extended to March 9.

More decisions await aldermen, including several construction alternatives.

One is to replace the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, at an estimated cost of $260,000, or to replace both the roof-mounted HVAC equipment and the roof itself at a cost of about $605,000, Raasch said.

Replacing the roof and the HVAC equipment at the same time would be more cost-efficient, Raasch said.

Other options include installation of an emergency generator next to a maintenance garage on the site, at an estimated cost of $58,000, or to upgrade the installation using copper wiring at a cost of about $87,000.

There will be another contract focusing on exterior work, including fencing off the parking area for police vehicles, bringing the parking area into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and possibly patching or seal-coating the parking lot surface.

The city also is investigating the feasibility of installing outdoor canopies in the police parking area that would provide a measure of protection for the department’s vehicles. The structures would be topped with solar panels, reducing the city’s long-term electrical costs.

However, none of these additional projects will hold up the start of the interior renovations and reconfiguration of the former office building, which was constructed in 2007 and was last used as a COVID-19 vaccination site by the Kendall County Health Department.

Nov. 18 is the date by which the city plans to have taken up residence in its new home.

“That’s the goal,” Raasch said. “In a worst case scenario we’re in by Christmas.”

The city spent $1.9 million to purchase the office building. Early last fall, aldermen approved a $7.3 million cost estimate for the renovations, plus architect’s fees and a $500,000 contingency, along with the floor plan for the building.

In November, the city council approved the expenditure of $304,000 with Bradford Systems of Elmhurst for specialized storage equipment, including the police department’s lockers and secure evidence storage facilities, as well as cabinets for city hall files and documents.

Staff and elected officials estimate that when complete, the city will have invested about $10 million in a project that would have cost at least twice as much had they instead constructed a new building.

The police department will occupy most of the first floor and a large portion of the second, with most of the rest being used by the development department.

The third floor will be home to the city administration, with offices, conference rooms and the city council chambers.