New challenge for Mundelein: Finding tenant for top floor of village hall
A private company that occupies the second floor of Mundelein's village hall is moving out.
Weston Solutions, a Pennsylvania-headquartered environmental consulting and engineering firm, intends to vacate its offices at 300 Plaza Circle in June, village documents indicate.
Village staffers occupy the first floor of the building, and Weston has leased the top floor since the hall opened in 2014. Weston's rent payments helped fund the $10 million cost of building the village hall.
Over the course of the company's seven-year lease, its payments totaled about $2.1 million, Mayor Steve Lentz said.
"To have an income-producing floor like that ... is very valuable," Lentz said.
A Weston representative couldn't be reached for comment.
Village Administrator Eric Guenther said he didn't know why Weston is packing up. He described the company as "a cooperative and reliable tenant."
With Weston departing, Mundelein officials are seeking a tenant for the roughly 14,000-square-foot space.
The big challenge, Guenther said, will be finding a tenant at a time when the demand for office space is down because of the pandemic and white-collar workers are shifting to doing their jobs from home.
"It is unclear how many office workers will continue to work from home," Guenther said. "But industry professionals expect a slow return to normal office occupancies in the future."
Guenther believes the proximity to Mundelein's Metra station and downtown area will be draws for prospective tenants.
Filling the space with workers will be good for local restaurants and other downtown businesses, Lentz said.
The village board on Monday agreed to hire JC Forney Realty to handle the search for a tenant.
The company will receive a commission payment based on 8% of the net annual rent paid in the lease's first year, 3% of the net annual rent in the second year and 2% of the net annual rent for each subsequent year, documents show.