Oak Park’s plan to acquire a U.S. Bank branch for its new police station moved forward last week, but the bank is still fighting the village.
Oak Park’s village board voted in January to start the “quick take” process for the bank branch at 11 Madison St with the plan of acquiring the building so it could be converted into a new standalone police station for the Oak Park Police Department. Trustees backed the plan as a less expensive alternative to constructing a new police headquarters on the green space just south of Village Hall’s parking lot.
Quick take is an expedited eminent domain process that allows some Illinois municipalities to condemn and take over properties if they demonstrate an immediate need for the land and receive approval from both the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives. The state Senate granted that approval to Oak Park’s quick take bid on Friday, April 17, according to legislative records.
The bill will now go to the Illinois House where the same process will be repeated.
U.S. Bank officials have come out to oppose Oak Park leaders’ quick take plans. Bank officials have said the bank never planned to close the branch when it listed the building for sale last year but was instead planning to lease back space inside the building from a new owner.
The village offered the bank $2.3 million for the building last November before starting the condemnation process in the Cook County court system after the bank refused the offer. The village had the site appraised in April of last year, according to Cook County court records.
Bank officials vowed to “explore all legal challenges at the village’s use of eminent domain” in a message to local customers in January.
Earlier this month, attorneys for the bank filed a motion to have the village’s Cook County condemnation suit dismissed by arguing that the village is using the eminent domain process vindictively against U.S. Bank. U.S. Bank’s attorneys cited a passage from a January Wednesday Journal article about an Oak Park village board meeting which quoted Village President Vicki Scaman voicing some support for a public commentator who criticized U.S. Bank’s role in the 2008 financial crisis.
“Thank you for continuing to make my argument for me,” she told the commentator at the time.
U.S. Bank’s attorneys argued that the brief comment revealed an improper bias from Oak Park against the bank, according to court records.
“At a minimum the court should allow discovery and conduct an evidentiary hearing because eminent domain may not be used as a pretext to expel a disfavored owner for an arbitrary, bad-faith or otherwise improper purpose,” the attorneys wrote in an April filing. “The village’s subsequent effort to secure quick take authority after filing the condemnation action further underscores the need for careful judicial scrutiny before U.S. Bank is dispossessed.”
A Cook County hearing in the case is set for Thursday, April 23, according to court records. U.S. Bank did not respond to Wednesday Journal’s request for comment.
The legal process continues at both the state and county levels as the village keeps working towards remaking 11 Madison into the future home of the police department. Village trustees approved detailed design plans for the site last month, with the adaptive redevelopment expected to cost Oak Park north of $67 million.
Scaman said in an interview that she’s pleased with how the process is moving forward and said the village wants to work with the bank to potentially find a new location for them in Oak Park.
“We have been moving forward consistent with our timeline to see construction in 2027,” she said. “We have been and remain ready and willing to engage U.S. Bank on potential relocation or a fair contract for the purchase of the building and we have been from the beginning. It is our anticipation that (quick take) is going to bring them back to the negotiating table. U.S. Bank can still be a good partner with the community, but as the Wednesday Journal has already noted, they have not historically been engaged with community.”
She said she’s heard some “rumblings” that the bank is already looking to lease an alternative space in the village, but she couldn’t confirm any specifics.
Oak Park’s village board is next scheduled to review design plans for the police station on June 16, according to village documents.