Story posted Friday, November 20, 2009
DP Drops Plan To Buy Masonic Temple
The city of Des Plaines has given up, for the time being, its desire to purchase the former downtown Masonic Temple building.
City officials were strongly interested in buying the three-level building at Miner and Lee streets, for a potential site of a new police station and/or city hall.
That possibility included purchasing the land of the adjacent Choo-Choo Restaurant and finding another location for the eatery.
That possibility has apparently been abandoned at this time.
Officials decided not to pursue the possible purchase because of the poor economy and depleted revenue in the city's downtown Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district. In addition, the city's focus in recent months has been to use city resources on things like floor relief measures rather than building projects.
For the last decade, many city officials have been strongly advocating the building of a new police headquarters citing cramped conditions in the current 20,000 sq. ft. facility located next to city hall.
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