The Park District of Oak Park is finalizing plans for the construction of a new building at Field Park and that the work will start next month, staff said this week.
Last week, Oak Park’s park district board approved a contract for a Lake County based construction firm to build the new building at Field Park, located near Horace Mann Elementary School at 929 Berkshire St. in northwest Oak Park, park district staff told Wednesday Journal.
The current building at the park is 99-years-old and park district leadership has told residents that it’s now long outdated with clear, critical flaws in the building’s infrastructure. But neighbors have questioned how the construction project will change the character, topography and tree coverage of the park as well as impact traffic in the area.
Another point of issue for some residents has been the reduction of the berm located on the northwest corner of the park where the new center will be built.
Park district staff will finalize the construction plan for the new center at a July 1 meeting with the construction firm, according to Ann Marie Buczek, the park’s marketing and community engagement manager.
“Last Friday, June 27, the park board approved a construction contract for the new Field Center,” Buczek told Wednesday Journal. “The contract was awarded to Liebe Construction Services, LLC of Mundelein, for an amount not to exceed $3.98 million. Staff have a meeting scheduled for July 1 to develop the final construction timeline, but work will commence in July. We will publish the final timeline once it has been developed and approved.”
The park district had allocated $2.8 million for Field Center building improvements in its 2025 capital improvement plan and $1 million in overall Field Park improvements in that plan’s 2026 budget forecast.
The new center will be used for after school programing for Mann Elementary students, summer camp activities and children’s preforming arts events, Park District Executive Director Jan Arnold said at a January community meeting about the project.
The building will be 4,600 square feet, with dance classrooms, a stage and considerations to make pre-school and after-care pick-up and drop-off easy, according to the park district.
The current field center building will remain open through the construction. The current building was designed by celebrated Oak Park architect John Van Bergen.