Impact on Howard Park goes down, but price goes up in latest update on proposed police station

Progress on Wilmette’s new police station project has reached a “key inflection point” as village officials are preparing to “start spending real dollars” on the large-scale, multi-million-dollar endeavor.

Project planners went in front of Wilmette trustees on Tuesday, April 8, with a series of updates that included refinements to the site plan and project budget — two details that have been sticking points for both officials and residents since discussions of a new police station resurfaced in 2023.

Wilmette trustees in February of this year reached a consensus to move forward with a tentative site plan for the facility, as reported by The Record. The preferred plan lessened the impact on Howard Park as compared to previous concepts and would take approximately 4,640 feet, or about 1.2%, of the 11-acre site that is owned by the Village of Wilmette.

Updated plans reviewed by officials Tuesday night further reduced the impact to Howard Park by another 25 percent, bringing the total impact on the park to 3,487 square feet.

The primary change in the updated plan was the shifting of the proposed station’s sallyport location to the north side of the building from its prior location on the north side, Wilmette Village Manager Michael Braiman said.

Another key update is the increase in the overall size of the building to a projected total of 53,054 square feet. That uptick, officials said, is in part due to an increase in the facility’s basement, which will accommodate added parking spots that were removed from the above-grade plan to aid in the reduction of impact to Howard Park.

The updated site plan also eliminates the need to relocate the southwest playing field at Howard Park and the estimated $400,000 to do so.

Still, as a result of the increased projected building size, the overall project cost is expected to increase slightly to $50.49 million.

FGM Architects, the project’s architectural firm, worked with a construction company to develop the updated estimate, officials said, noting the new figure is based on the updated floor and site plans.

Additionally, Marc Rogers, a representative for project management company CCS International, told trustees the budget estimate is adjusted for construction inflation. Planners right now are operating under the assumption that the project will go to bid in November of this year with work beginning in March of 2026.

The updated estimate also includes the temporary relocation costs for the police department. Village documents show that the Wilmette Police Department will operate out of the Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah synagogue while the department’s new facility is built.

Budget documents earmark more than $429,000 for a 22-month rental and buildout of the Beth Hillel property, which was sold to the Wilmette Park District in 2024.

Concerns

The updated cost is roughly 7 percent higher than the estimated cost of $47.8 million that trustees heard in mid-February. Avoiding future budget changes is a key priority for officials as some worry that further increases would influence set things back.

“I think we’re all very committed to this project and I’d hate for us to get to the point where the cost rises where we’re at a point where the board who sits there today has to look at that,” Trustee Kathy Dodd said, later adding that the “escalation is a concern,” as the project moves forward.

Cost concerns were not the only hesitations expressed during the April 8 meeting. Several residents and board members of the neighboring Village Green Atrium, a senior-living condominium building, addressed the board during the public-comment session.

Atrium residents expressed a desire to maintain full access to the back of their building. The potential addition of an access road connected to the new station would be too close to the property, Atrium representatives say.

Village President Senta Plunkett committed to continued conversations with neighbors, particularly Atrium residents.

“We know how important that is,” she said.

“We spent a lot of time trying to figure and limit the impact on Howard Park and that took us a while and I feel like we are as best as we can on that impact and I’m really happy with that and now we just have to make sure we have all the other boxes checked,” Plunkett added.

Wilmette trustees will look to approve a set of contracts for the next phases of the project at their next meeting on April 22, Braiman said, noting the project is now at the point where the village “starts spending real dollars.”

Those contracts include design development, construction documents and procurement services and will total about $1.8 million.

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