Twelve Contractors Priced Burr Ridge's New Village Hall. The Estimate Was the Outlier.

On September 24, twelve construction bids were read aloud inside the Burr Ridge Police Department at 7700 County Line Road. The contractors were bidding to build onto that same building: a Village Hall addition the Board had picked in 2024 out of more than 15 relocation ideas.

A month later, on October 26, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to reject every one of those bids and end its relationship with Legat Architects, the firm that designed the project. Even so, Board meetings were scheduled to move into that building, starting with a November 9 special meeting in the police training room. The Village is considering turning that room into a permanent boardroom.

Twelve bids, one number that didn't fit

Legat Architects estimated the final design at about $8.5 million, a figure that left out final stormwater requirements. The Village says it checked that figure with the architects again before going out to bid. Here is what came back, as posted on the Village's project page. The percentages are calculated against the $8.5 million estimate.

Read the table from both ends. From Staalsen at the bottom to Toro at the top, the twelve bids span about $3.4 million. The gap between the architect's estimate and the lowest bid alone is about $5.3 million. Twelve firms working on their own landed closer to each other than any of them came to the estimate. Consertus, the Village's owner's representative, confirmed the low bid after reviewing them all. Bidders also priced several optional add-ons, called alternates, and those aren't included in the totals above.

Mayor Gary Grasso described it the same way at the October 26 meeting, as reported by Patch: "While I understand that projects do, in some cases, come higher than you expect, it is clear that the market's expectations diverged sharply from Legat's."

That clustering is why the Board didn't try to bargain the price down. In the October 26 Board packet, staff and Consertus recommended rejecting all bids rather than negotiating a smaller scope with any bidder. They said value engineering couldn't bring the cost to an acceptable level without "significantly reducing square footage, features, and other elements the Board identified as priorities or as non-negotiable for logistical reasons." When every bidder lands in the same range, trimming the design is unlikely to close a gap that size.

Why $5.3 million is a big number here

Next to a typical suburban building project, a five-million-dollar overrun might pass with little notice. Burr Ridge runs a lean budget, so it doesn't.

In the November Oak Leaf newsletter, Grasso wrote that the Village finished $8.25 million in capital projects this year without issuing debt. He also wrote that it carries no long-term general obligation debt and has earned the Government Finance Officers Association's "Triple Crown" four years in a row. He added that the Village receives less than two cents of every property tax dollar a resident pays.

Put those figures next to the bid table. The gap between the estimate and the lowest bid equals about 64% of the $8.25 million in capital projects the Village completed this year. That's why the mayor's October 20 statement says he doesn't believe going ahead at the low-bid price best serves the Village and its taxpaying residents. The same statement says the Village "remains committed to developing a Village Hall commensurate with the community's status," but "we cannot ignore the projected cost of the current project's scope."

Trustee Tony Schiappa put the next step plainly in the same meeting, according to Patch: "We're stuck. We're pivoting to create a solution for the board and for the staff."

The temporary map is now one of the options

Before the bids were rejected, the Village had already moved staff to temporary space to prepare for construction. Here is where things stand:

• In-person services: 451 Commerce Street, the Village's Public Works facility, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A dedicated employee staffs the front counter.
• Mailing address: still 7700 County Line Road.
• Board meetings: the Police Department training room at 7700 County Line Road, starting with a special meeting on November 9 whose agenda included "Consideration of Village Hall Development."
• Old Village Hall, 7660 County Line Road: under contract to Goddard for $2.7 million, with closing expected by the end of 2026. The Village describes the sale as separate from the decision on the addition.
• Veterans Memorial: staying public. The Village says the hall building would be split off from the memorial property, and the memorial's electricity, water and gas would come through the 77th Street right-of-way or the Police Department.
• Voting: the former Village Hall is no longer a polling place.

The October 26 packet's early alternative builds on that list. Administration, Finance and Community Development staff would stay at 451 Commerce, at least for the near term. The police training room would become a boardroom for about 60 people. The Village's FAQ says that room is expected to hold roughly twice as many people as the old Village Hall boardroom, which it calls undersized for public meetings.

The police building would need work of its own. The FAQ notes the facility is nearly 20 years old, and the packet lists HVAC, windows, flooring, access control and more parking among its needs. According to staff, the Commerce Street building has room for offices and storage, but it hasn't yet been studied in depth as a long-term combined Village Hall and Public Works site. Staff also proposed looking at other available buildings.

Officially, the long-term location is open. The FAQ lists continuing at 451 Commerce Street among the options and says any recommendation will go to the Board at a public meeting. It also says costs and funding for a revised plan will come before the Board at a public meeting before any decision is made. So the stopgap residents have been driving to since the move is now one of the serious candidates for where Village Hall stays.

For background on how the old building ended up with Goddard, our earlier post on the competing offers for Burr Ridge's Village Hall covers that sale in detail.

The next three weeks at 451 Commerce and the training room

Village business and the holiday calendar overlap through the rest of November. Here are the dates, in order, from the Oak Leaf, the Board packets and the mayor's statement:

1. November 16 to 23: filing period for Village trustee candidates.
2. November 18: Comprehensive Plan Update Committee meeting at 451 Commerce Street. The same day, Pace holds a virtual open house.
3. November 20: Deck the Green on the Village Green at Burr Ridge Village Center, 5 to 7 p.m. The free event has a tree lighting, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a holiday train ride. Details are on the Village's holiday page.
4. November 20 and 21: Winter Market at the Village Center.
5. November 23: regular Board meeting in the police training room. In the November 9 packet, staff said they expected to bring agreements with architects and engineers for the facility-improvement phases to this meeting.
6. November 25: 30 days after the October 26 vote, the window Grasso's October 20 statement set for staff to present an alternative plan.

The November 23 meeting is the one to watch. That's when the architect and engineer agreements are expected to show whether the next phase centers on fixing up the buildings the Village is already using. Board materials are posted on the Village's agendas and minutes page ahead of each meeting, and the bid table and FAQ stay updated on the Village Hall project page.

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