More than three years after obtaining a tax-delinquent property through Cook County, the Village of Brookfield is on the verge of demolishing the long-vacant Lucas Tire building at 9528-40 Ogden Ave. The village board on July 23 is expected to vote to accept a $250,422 bid from Cicero-based N.F. Demolition to raze the building.
N.F. Demolition’s was the lowest of four bids, which ranged up to $450,000. N.F. Demolition will be responsible for the physical demolition of the Lucas Tire building. The R.W. Collins Company, a subcontractor, would be responsible for the environmental site remediation.
Underground remediation would include the removal of one storage tank, removal of groundwater monitoring wells and excavation and disposal of contaminated soil.
According to Village Manager Riccardo Ginex, the building could be torn down as early next month. In all, the demolition would take just over three weeks. However, underground site remediation would likely wait until the fall.
The reason for the delay on remediation is that the village budgeted just $175,000 in its 2007 appropriations ordinance for the demolition and remediation for the Lucas Tire site. In the meantime, Brookfield is pursuing state and federal funding to make up the difference.
The prospect of state funding is up in the air, Ginex said, since the state legislature has been unable to pass a budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
However, Ginex stated that he had contacted a representative from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and that the village may be eligible for an interest-free federal loan to pay for site remediation. The village should know whether it has received the loan by October. The federal loan program would allow the village to pay back up to 80 percent of the loan over 15 years at 0-percent interest, Ginex said.
Should the village fail to gain outside funding to cover remediation costs, the Ginex said that $75,500 in other line items in the 2007 budget would be cut.
“What we’d like to do is begin the demolition process as soon as possible,” Ginex said. “We’ll look at remediation after Oct. 1, so we know if we’ll get federal funds.”
The costs for site remediation alone have been pegged at just over $100,000, according to figures given to the village by both N.F. Demolition and Shaw Environmental Inc., the company the village has used to complete a brownfield remedial action plan since 2004.
Once the site has been cleaned up, the village would likely seek proposals for development of the property, which formerly house two Cadillac dealerships, a Corvette showroom, the tire store and an automotive electronics training school.
“It’d have to be an RFQ process and selection of a developer, so we have some control over what’s done there,”said Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral. “I don’t think we’d put it on the open market and just let it go.”
Sbiral said that in the past year the village has been approached by a handful of developers expressing interest in the site.
“When we’re ready to move forward, we’ll contact everyone,” Sbiral said.