Deal done for temporary police station in Wilmette

The Wilmette Police Department now has its next home set.

Village trustees during their Tuesday, Oct. 14 meeting unanimously approved a resolution authorizing a lease agreement between the Village and the Wilmette Park District for use of Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah synagogue as temporary police headquarters.

As previously reported by The Record, the Wilmette Police Department will use a portion of the nearly 5-acre site at 3220 Big Tree Lane as its temporary headquarters during the construction of the department’s new police station on Ridge Road.

According to a memo from Village Manager Michael Braiman, police operations at Beth Hillel will include administration, social work, patrol, evidence processing and storage, the filing of police reports, digital forensics, and investigations.

Braiman added that the holding of prisoners and firearms range training will not take place at the temporary headquarters and instead will be done at offsite regional facilities.

Per the lease agreement, the village will pay the park district rent in the amount of $12,706 per month through Oct. 13 of next year. After that, the agreement calls for that amount to include a percentage increase equal to the consumer price index beginning on Oct. 14, 2026.

The agreement will go into effect no later than Jan. 1 of next year, the lease says, but it can begin earlier if Braiman and Chris Lindgren, the park district’s executive director, agree.

Additionally, the lease includes an option to extend or terminate the agreement with 30 days notice at any time during the two-year term.

The village is responsible for maintaining and repairing the building, per Braiman, but Wilmette can terminate the lease if officials decide that repairs are “too extensive or not in the village’s best interest.”

Officials are currently estimating the total Village cost to operate the temporary headquarters will be $430,000. That figure, per Braiman’s memo, earmarks $242,000 in rent payments and $188,000 to renovate the space for a “functional temporary police headquarters.”

The Record first reported in March of last year that the park district was working on terms to purchase the property, a deal that ended up at $5.4 million. The parcel, located in southwest Wilmette off of Glenview Road and near the Edens Expressway, is approximately 4.8 acres, per park district documents.

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

The department’s need for temporary headquarters comes as the village prepares to begin work on the multi-million-dollar endeavor of constructing a new police station at 710 Ridge Road.

Village officials have previously stated the project is expected to cost $50.5 million for the new facility that is anticipated to be upward of 50,000 square feet.

Construction work on the new station is slated to begin in spring of 2026.

Since purchasing the property, park district officials have on multiple occasions stated that they do not yet have a plan for how they will use the property.

In June of this year, commissioners voted to approve a committee to steer the planning for the new property in west Wilmette.

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