Wilmette police-station rebuild reportedly on track, as officials look ahead to bid process and demolition

The $50-million effort to construct Wilmette’s new police station is “on budget and on schedule” as the project prepares to officially go out to bid in the coming days.

Project planners presented village trustees with an update on the massive public infrastructure endeavor on Tuesday, Nov. 25.

Wilmette officials will on Friday, Dec. 5, issue a request for proposals to a list of prequalified contractors, Village Manager Michael Braiman said, adding that those firms are on the short-list to bid on the project.

These contractors have bonding capacity, experience in similar project scope and size, and experienced project personnel, officials noted in village documents.

Wilmette is then set to receive bid proposals for the project on Jan. 14 of next year.

Project funding

A significant portion of the update provided at the meeting involved the project’s financing. Wilmette’s finance committee, a subcommittee of the Village Board, met last month to review and confirm project affordability, Braiman said.

The committee confirmed the held assertion that the project can be paid for without directly raising property taxes. Officials continue to discuss specifics of the bond structure and reserve drawdowns that will be used to fund the project.

A finding from PMA, Wilmette’s financial advisor, that was briefly detailed on Nov. 25 was the assertion that every $1 million reduction in size of the bond issue reduces annual debt service for the village by approximately $60,000.

The finance committee has also started to review the potential impact of a credit rating downgrade that could occur based on the specific amount the village draws down from its reserves. Right now, Wilmette holds the highest-possible credit rating from Moody’s.

Officials, however, said that they do not expect a $5 million reserve drawdown alone to adversely impact the Village’s credit rating. If Wilmette did see a rating downgrade, it could increase annual debt service by roughly $30,000 over a 30-year term.

The committee will this month meet again to further review reserve drawdown and bond issuance scenarios and prepare to provide another update to the full board in late January.

Construction documents for the project right now are approximately 95% complete. Mark Rodgers, who works with CCS International, the firm managing the project, told trustees the budget is holding firm at the previously estimated $50.5 million price tag that was put forward earlier this year.

Regarding the design of the building, Elliott said that planners are “honing in on brick blend,” noting that they’re right now setting the building up to where it’s not one brick.”

The Village Board is expected to receive a series of updates related to financing and bid alternatives across two January meetings. If the project continues on schedule, demolition of the existing Wilmette police station could occur in March or April of next year.

Officials are still marking November of 2027 as the target goal for completion of the project.

“We’re sticking to the schedule and we feel good about it,” Braiman said.

As previously reported by The Record, Wilmette officials first renewed conversations around a new police station in May of 2023 when the board of trustees approved a needs assessment and land use study.

Temporary police operations

The village’s lease with the park district for the use of Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah’s former synagogue as temporary police headquarters began on Monday, Dec. 1, officials stated.

Project planners submitted permit applications in mid-November for work that needs to be done to the facility. Officials received three proposals for the buildout of the space and a contract for that will appear on the agenda of trustees’ Dec. 9 meeting.

Construction on the site is expected to begin in mid-January and run through the end of February, according to Mike Elliott, a representative of FGMA, the project’s architect. March 1 is slated as the police department’s transition to the new space.

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.

Village officials in October reached a lease agreement with the Wilmette Park District for use of the facility. The Record first reported in March of 2024 that the park district was working on terms to purchase the property, a deal that ended up at $5.4 million.

To use the space, 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.

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