Oak Park's village board voted unanimously on Aug. 25 to move forward with design development for a new $57 million police headquarters inside the former U.S. Bank building at 11 Madison St., even as the bank continues fighting to keep the property in Cook County court. Village Manager Kevin Jackson called the vote a substantial milestone in the project's long and contentious journey.
The estimated design cost now sits at more than $57 million, according to the Chicago Tribune, down from an earlier conceptual estimate of $63.7 million presented to the village board previously. That figure still excludes more than a dozen items, including professional design fees and construction contingencies, and Deputy Village Manager Rob Sproule said costs tied to those exclusions will keep shifting as the project moves ahead. The new facility is set to include a training room, a wellness room where officers can take breaks or eat lunch, and a two-level parking garage estimated to cost $10.5 million on its own.
The relocation plan has been years in the making, and it hasn't been simple. Oak Park officials first offered U.S. Bank $2.3 million for the 37,000-square-foot building in November 2025, well under its $2.65 million listing price, before talks stalled and the village turned to eminent domain, according to the Wednesday Journal. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed Public Act 104-0816 on Aug. 7, granting Oak Park a two-year window of quick-take eminent domain authority to seize the site, a legislative step that required approval from both chambers of the General Assembly.
Bank Fights Takeover While Eyeing New Site Nearby
U.S. Bank has not backed down quietly. The bank is contesting the takeover with a motion to dismiss in Cook County court while simultaneously applying for village zoning approval to build a new drive-thru branch at 44 Madison St., just one block from the contested site, the Wednesday Journal reported. Bank executives have maintained they originally listed the 11 Madison St. property intending to lease back space rather than vacate entirely, a position that has fueled the dispute over the village's acquisition.
The site sits two blocks east of Village Hall, keeping the police department anchored along Oak Park's Madison Street municipal corridor even after the move. Trustees had earlier considered building a standalone station on green space directly south of Village Hall before pivoting to the bank site in late 2025, choosing adaptive reuse of the existing structure as a less expensive path forward.
Decades of Cramped Quarters Drive the Push
The Oak Park Police Department has operated out of the basement of Village Hall since the building opened in 1975, a space now widely described as insufficient. Officers currently use the roll call room as a lunch room, evidence storage space is short, and the department handles public walk-in services, FOIA requests and non-emergency reporting from the same cramped lower level. Trustee Vicki Scaman said the police station remains the priority but stressed that the broader campus project will not end there.
At a previous meeting, Police Chief Shatonya Johnson said the new facility would include a training room and a wellness room for officers, and Sproule has said the current focus is on moving the station project forward rather than dwelling on the village hall changes it will eventually enable. Trustees indicated the design will also incorporate elements honoring officers' history and service. That focus carries added weight locally: Oak Park Detective Allan Reddins was shot and killed in the line of duty on Nov. 29, 2024, while responding to an armed offender call, the department's first line-of-duty death since 1938, a tragedy that has kept officer welfare and facility needs in sharp local focus.
Village Hall Renovation Waits Its Turn
Village Hall, designed by Modernist architect Harry Weese and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now more than 50 years old. Moving police operations out of its basement is meant to unlock space for a new council chamber and a village board meeting room, part of renovations expected to cost more than $33 million and potentially climb close to $40 million within six years due to anticipated price escalation. That work depends entirely on the police department finishing its move out of the basement first.
Trustee Derek Eder said reducing the police station's large one-time expense would affect village spending over the next 30 years, since Oak Park plans to take on bond debt to cover the project with debt service paid out over three decades. Eder said he remains interested in finding further ways to reduce the police station's cost. The village board plans to negotiate a professional services agreement with Johnson Lasky & Kindelin Architects, Inc., with a recommended construction manager contract expected to come up for a vote in October. Construction on the new station is set to begin in 2027.
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