Downtown LZ’s Landscape Changing

Lake Zurich’s downtown will have a new look once the buildings that make the area look “bombed out” are demolished.

The Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to award a $114,800 contract to Langos Corporation, based in Barrington Hills, for the demolition of several buildings Lake Zurich owns.

Langos  is ready to move on the project this week, that’s how quickly it will take place, said Mike Brown, public works manager.

The buildings scheduled for demolition are 2-18 West Main, 28 and 37 Park Ave., 32 Mionske Drive and 61 West Main Street, the village’s former emergency dispatch center.

Demolition, removal of the debris and seeding of the properties should be done by the end of November, Brown said. “We hope to have everything cleaned up and out of there as soon as possible,” he said.

Trustee Jim Beaudoin pointed out Langos’s bid was $100,000 lower than the highest bidder. Lake Zurich budgeted $250,000. Beaudoin thanked Brown and his department for being responsible with taxpayer money.

Spark new development

The buildings are located in a Tax Increment Financing District (TIF), which is a tool municipalities use to spur economic development, but the economic downfall and lack of development left the properties uninhabitable for years.

Lake Zurich officials hope tearing down the buildings will make downtown more marketable.

“We feel knocking these down and getting rid of that bombed out look we have in certain parts will help us put a better foot forward,” and attract developers, Lake Zurich Village President Tom Poynton said.

“Personally, I would have liked to see them knocked won a long time ago but budget restraints and differing opinions” prevented it, Poynton said. “The buildings aren’t doing anybody any good. They are not salvageable at this point.”

Dale Perrin, executive director of the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce, congratulated the Board for its initiatives including the upcoming Rock the Block street dance in downtown and the demolition project.

“I think it (the demolition project) will be a great improvement for the downtown and hopefully, it sparks some development in the downtown soon,” he said.