Palatine Library Moving Freeman Road Branch To Park District Facility

The Palatine Public Library District has found a new home for its Freeman Road branch.

The branch will move to the Hoffman Estates Park District's Willow Recreation Center located at 3600 Lexington Drive, according to a statement on the park district's website.

The library branch has been located at 1262 N. Freeman Road, but the building it occupied went into foreclosure on July 11. According to a statement on the Palatine Library's website, the Freeman Road branch will close Oct. 22 and the new branch will open in early November 2011.

“While we knew that a change in location of the branch could be a concern for some residents, we recognized that the opportunity to partner with another governmental unit would maximize the use of tax dollars and would contribute to the sustainability of a branch library in the Hoffman Estates service area,” Library Director Susan Strunk was quoted in a press release.

Library officials stated that they were not asked to move the branch by bank officials, but decided to move because they "were concerned about sustainability of a branch in Hoffman Estates for the long term and not just in the near term."

The . The library branch originally was located at the site now occupied by the nearby Montessori School of North Hoffman. It moved to its present, 2,000-square-foot location in 1994.

Palatine library officials were informed the building was in foreclosure on July 13 via e-mail, just hours before trustees were to vote on renewing the Freeman Road branch lease.

The library branch now will be located in the Activity Room of the Willow Recreation Center. The size of the branch will be 1,248 square feet.

“We are always open to exploring potential new intergovernmental partnerships and with the Activity Room being an underutilized space within Willow Recreation Center it turned out to be a win-win situation for both agencies,” stated Dean Bostrom, Hoffman Estates Park District Executive Director, on the district's website.

The library will lease the space for $31,200 inclusive, which library officials stated is about $14,000 less than the lease and utility costs to operate the Freeman Road branch.