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Schaumburg mulls demolishing nursing division headquarters

Schaumburg village board members this month will discuss whether to remodel the approximately 70-year-old house where the village's nursing and senior services division is headquartered, or relocate the program and demolish the building.

The nursing division has operated in the house at 521 E. Schaumburg Road for 22 years, but the village board's health and human services committee has recommended it relocate to a leased location in nearby Town Square at the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle roads.

"The prime reason is the house is very old," said Trustee Marge Connelly, a member of the committee. "The building was never built for that purpose."

After the village's 1989 purchase of the ranch house, it became the headquarters of the nursing services and medical equipment lending program in 1995. But more work is needed to make it fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act's accessibility requirements.

Connelly said her committee agreed such an expenditure on an old building might not be the most efficient way to serve the needs of the nursing division and its clients.

Before the house ended up in the northeast corner of the village's municipal campus, it was part of the farm property of one of the area's founding families. However, there's no recognized historical significance to the house weighing on whether to relocate the nursing division.

Rather than the full village board simply endorsing the committee's recommendation, Mayor Al Larson requested all trustees discuss the matter at the July 18 committee of the whole meeting.

Larson said he hasn't decided to oppose the recommendation, but believes the costs involved in remodeling or razing a village-owned property deserve a discussion by the entire board.

"It's a nice looking house from the outside, that's for sure," he said. "It would seem to be a terrible waste to bulldoze it down."

The village staff recommendation to relocate the nursing division touts the relative ease of becoming ADA-compliant at Town Square, plus the improved access to parking and other services there that are already used by its clients.

Demolition of the Slingerland House would free up money from its remodeling and continued upkeep that could be used for a 5-year lease of office space at Town Square, according to the staff recommendation.

  Schaumburg village board members will discuss whether to remodel or raze the approximately 70-year-old Slingerland House, which has served as headquarters of the village's nursing and senior services division for 22 years. A village board committee has recommended moving the nursing division to leased space at Town Square. Eric Peterson/epeterson@dailyherald.com
  Schaumburg officials are considering relocating the village's nursing and senior services division from the Slingerland House at 521 E. Schaumburg Road to a leased site at Town Square. Village officials will discuss the building's future this month. Eric Peterson/epeterson@dailyherald.com
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