Funeral home will become administrative space for Illinois district

Bremen (Illinois) High School District 228 is moving forward with plans to turn a funeral home in Tinley Park into its new administrative center.

The Southtown Economist reports that the school board voted to acquire the property from John N. Maher Funeral and Legal Services for $2.1 million.

Superintendent Brad Sikora said the district had kept the idea for a new administration center on the back burner as the district carried out major renovations to some of its high schools.

Sikora said the existing administration building on Pulaski Road in Midlothian, Illinois, was built in the 1950s and is "past its life cycle, if you ask me." He said the district looked into constructing a new building on the same property as its existing office, but the price tag lf about $8 million was too high.

The funeral home space had been Tinley Park's public library from 1974 to 2014, which Sikora said offers perks in terms of a strong foundation and large meeting spaces.

"They used to build those libraries like bomb shelters, honestly," Sikora said. "It has a really, really good structure."

The building will become the school board's new home as well as that of 20 administrative employees. The district will pay for the property in cash, and upcoming renovations will not require a referendum or bonds.

Sikora said the district has not decided what it will do with the existing administrative building.