Officials now look to sell rather than raze current building
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
County officials plan to move the Western Racine County Service Center to a newly renovated space between Big R and Dunham’s Sports in the Fox River Plaza shopping center, Burlington, this fall.
Racine County has signed a letter of intent with shopping center’s leasing agent, according to M.T. Boyle, chief of staff for County Executive Jonathan Delagrave.
That letter enables the owner of the shopping center to begin renovations of the space at 1072 Milwaukee Ave. while Delagrave’s office seeks to finalize the proposal through the County Board, Boyle said.
She said it will likely take 90 days for the service center to transition to the shopping center. The proposed space is in a 4,700-square foot storefront that is two doors northeast of Big R.
As an offshoot of that move, the county has decided not to demolish the current service center at 209 N. Main St., Burlington, and instead will seek to sell it, according to Boyle.
“We plan to put the building up for sale and see if it garners any interest as is,” Boyle said in an email.
It was at least two years ago the county accelerated plans to abandon and demolish the county-owned building at 209 Main St. due to its age and the relative cost of upgrading the building’s systems.
After the Burlington Senior Center moved out of the county service center early this year, county officials began looking in earnest for building that would be suitable to house the services they offer in Burlington.
Boyle said the county started looking to purchase a building, but once officials factored in the time and expense of needed renovations they decided it would be more effective to rent office space temporarily.
The county previously had discussions with City of Burlington officials regarding the possibility of a shared municipal facility, but those were largely abandoned after last year’s flood forced the city to reconsider priorities.
That left the county searching for rental space.
“We looked at a ton of places to rent and then we put out an RFP (request for proposals),” Boyle said.
The most favorable, she said, came from CBRE, the commercial real estate firm representing the Fox River Plaza.
“The more we looked at it the better it was,” Boyle said of the proposal. “I think it’s going to be good. There’s plenty of parking and it’s ADA accessible.”
While the county was initially looking at a two- or three-year lease, Boyle said officials eventually decided to extend that to seven years. The lease will start out at $62,700 annually and will increase roughly 3 percent per year over the term and top out at $70,610, she said.
The new service center location will include all the agencies and services currently offered on Main Street.
To read the full story see the July 19 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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