Will Historic Police and Fire Station be Part of Greendale's Future?

For the last 15 years, the former Village of Greendale police and fire station has stood empty, like a building in a ghost town.

Built in 1938, it is one of the village’s original municipal buildings, now tucked away behind the shops on Broad Street and within a stone’s throw of the middle school and the hose tower, two structures built around the same time.

To some, the village-owned building serves as a reminder of the village’s great past and rich history. To others, it’s become an economic albatross that stands in the way of improving the village’s present and future.

And while what to do with the old building has been an on-again, off-again conversation for years, the talks are on the verge of heating up as the village has now begun investigating what needs to be done to preserve the long-term viability of downtown.

“We have to think about what’s best long-term especially when it comes to saving this whole downtown area,” Village President John Hermes said. “One building is not our focus, but it certainly is if it’s holding up future sustainability.

“The old police station tends to be in the middle of anything that has the ability to provide sustainable options for our village’s future.”

An expensive cost 

Greendale, which spends between $4,000 and $10,000 a year maintaining and heating the building, tried to sell it without success back in 2006, according to Village Manager Todd Michaels. And though officials say they’ll try to sell it again soon, they don’t think anyone will be interested.

They estimate it would cost a developer or investor $2 million in order to repurpose the building and still retain its historic significance. Those costs would include abating the asbestos and lead in the building, bringing the building up to code and likely reengineering the layout of the building because of two weight-bearing walls that run through it.

“They basically have to tear the thing down to make it useful space,” Hermes said. “It’s a very, very costly project.”

It should come as no surprise that one group that will fight any proposal that involves the demolition of the police and fire station is the Greendale Historical Society.

Members have been focused, at least financially, on repurposing the hose tower for the last four years, with construction now in full swing. The hope is to have the building ready for community use by the fall, approximately two years after the organization and village came to an agreement that called for the village to match up to $100,000 in funds toward the project.

Hose tower first, police station next

Then, GHS president Ted Mainella said, the organization would shift its attention to the police and fire building and tackle a similar project, starting with conceptual ideas, followed by fundraising and then rehabbing it into useful space.

“All along, the idea was, if we can succeed in restoring that building back to community use, then logically, our attention would turn to the fire and police station,” Mainella said.

“We didn’t say, by that agreement, that we were going to emphasize the hose tower and neglect the other historic structures in Greendale. … All those municipal buildings, including the fire and police building, are of concern to the Historical Society and everyone in Greendale.”

Historical Society Board Member Bill Attewell said the municipal buildings serve as a living museum for all – residents and visitors alike, and serve as tools to teach and preserve the village’s history.

And he believes the hose tower project could serve as a catalyst for the future development of the police and fire station.

“A lot of people never thought the hose tower would ever get done,” he said. “There were a lot of naysayers and a lot of people that said the historical society was nuts. But if you put some life and energy back there, there could be a really fantastic use for that building that no one has thought of yet.”

Long-term solution?

But that’s one of the biggest problem of all, Hermes said. This spring, an ad hoc committee charged with investigating or developing a long-range plan for downtown came up with more than two-dozen ideas for the village, many of which were centered around the area that contains the police station, hose tower and the municipal parking lot.

Some of the ideas included a family park or fountain, a coffee shop, and an amphitheater. Tearing down or repurposing the police and fire station made the list, as did turning it into a ruins-style monument.

“I think there are good suggestions,” Hermes said. “The committee did a lot of nice work, but I don’t think they are the long-term solutions we’re looking for. Short-term ideas are great; everybody’s got them. But we have to look deeper and at the long-term survival of downtown.”

Another factor in the debate is the building is considered one that contributes to the village’s National Historic Landmark designation awarded last October. In a letter from the National Park Service, which monitors all NHL designees, its coordinator, Michele Curran, urged the village to consider adaptive reuse and rehabilitation options for the building, said demolition of the building would “damage the historic integrity of the village,” and wrote the loss of the building could cause the National Park Service to reconsider the designation.

In other words, the Historical Society contends knocking down that building could cause the village to lose its National Historic Landmark status.

Hermes disagrees.

“In Greendale, 572 buildings have been designated as historic. The loss of one, even though it’s a contributing one, I don’t think will affect this designation … One building does not make a historic designation.”

Conversation starter

Mainella says the historical society just needs more time and community cooperation to turn the police and fire station into a building that will once again serve a purpose in the community, just like he expects the hose tower to do.

“I don’t see why with all the time that has passed, it’s a little befuddling why we are talking about this now," he said. "Let’s go about this correctly. That’s been our position all along.”

Added Attewell: “I can’t help but think it’s a little bit ironic that in Greendale’s 75th anniversary, and the year we are named a historic landmark, here we are talking about destroying historic structures.”

Village officials, however, say now is the time to start the conversation and it will take several months of deliberations and discussions before any decisions are made. Hermes said this is just the beginning of a community discussion.

Michaels agreed.

“What we’re doing is asking the question and looking for an answer so it doesn’t sit for another 15 years,” he said.