Park district in search of firm to support plan for new 5-acre property

Big Tree Lane is in need of big-time planning, as Wilmette park officials explained during recent public sessions.

Park District Executive Director Chris Lindgren on Jan. 20 provided an update to the Park Board on the district’s newest property, a nearly 5-acre site at 3220 Big Tree Lane, the former home of a synagogue, Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah.

Lindgren announced the district is preparing a request for proposals in search of professional services to kickstart community engagement and guide a preliminary plan for the site. He said collecting public feedback, assessing needs of the community, and reviewing internal and neighboring facilities will all be important early parts of developing that plan.

“I think this board, this team, this staff is really lucky to be in this stage,” Lindgren said on Jan. 20. “The beginning part is a lot of work, a lot of research, in order to move forward accurately and correctly and to end up with a project that is a home run for the community and something that is going to serve as many people as we can.”

The Record first reported in March of 2024 that the park district was working on terms to purchase the Beth Hillel property, a deal that ended up costing $5.4 million for the 4.8-acre site in southwest Wilmette off of Glenview Road and near the Edens Expressway.

Beth Hillel had owned the property — which includes a 54,000-square-foot building with classrooms, a playground, a garden, more than 150 parking spaces and a main sanctuary — since 1961.

Many have speculated on how the park district can use the site, but park officials have methodically approached the subject, forming a committee in July 2025 to guide discussion of the property on Big Tree Lane.

Giving the park district more time, up to two years in fact, it has leased the property to another public agency.

As previously reported by The Record, the Wilmette Police Department will use a portion of the Big Tree Lane property as its temporary headquarters during the construction of the department’s new police station on Ridge Road.

During that time, the park district hopes to develop a “home run” plan; though, Lindgren said he is hesitant to give any time lines this early in the process. He does, however, expect the collection of initial public feedback, including hiring the consultant, to take up to 12 months.

Lindgren listed that activity — collecting initial public feedback — as Stage 1, and that stage, according to park documents, will likely include public meetings, town halls, surveys, mailers, focus groups and more. And, if needed, the district will be ready to go back to the community, Lindgren said.

“We won’t be anywhere close to having a concept until we go out to the public,” he said on Jan. 20. “For (the project) to be successful, it has to have community buy-in, community-partner buy-in.

“We want to be careful not to put timeline on it; we will know when we’ve met that community engagement piece. … We can have a process and go through that process and not be satisfied with the result. … We may need to go back and look at different ways to go back to our community.”

Lindren also summarized two other steps in the early process.

Analyzing the Wilmette Park District’s current amenities, especially the Community Rec Center and Centennial rec center, would be Stage 2. And Stage 3 is what he called a “landscape scan,” or research on what neighboring agencies and communities offer and what they are developing.

Lindgren said that research will inform the local need in categories like aquatics, ice and more.

“We want to make sure we bring forward a new amenity,” he said. “We want to make sure the demand is going to be there, and we’re not putting something that … we’ll struggle to get the usage in that facility.”

Park commissioners expressed excitement at the project ahead, with Board Vice President Ali Frazier thanking Lindgren for the update, calling it a “great starting off point.”

The district will release its RFP for a planning consultant, and Lindgren said he expects to present three finalists to the Park Board for interviews.

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