Lake Forest council authorizes due diligence, assessments for purchase of 1925 Field Court as preferred police facility

Lake Forest officials on April 15 authorized staff to move forward with due diligence on 1925 Field Court as the city's preferred site for a new police facility and approved contracts to evaluate the building and estimate repurposing costs.

In a single motion the council approved a purchase-and-sale agreement with DP Westlake at Conway for $3,500,000, authorizing a $100,000 earnest-money deposit and a 90-day inspection period with an option to extend for 30 days. City Manager Jason Wisham told the council the staff recommendation was to use FY2024 general fund surplus to fund acquisition so the purchase would not require borrowing or drawing down existing reserves.

"We have the opportunity to acquire this building for a competitive price of 3 and a half million dollars," City Manager Jason Wisham said, describing the 98,000-square-foot, three-story office building as offering both publicly accessible and secured areas and 66 underground parking spaces that would be useful for fleet and prisoner transport operations.

Deputy Chief Mike Lang and Deputy Chief Kevin Zelk detailed operational needs that drove the search for a new facility, citing cramped evidence storage, limited training and private meeting space, and sally-port constraints at the existing 1960s-era public safety building. "Our current police department was built in the 1960s and was never really designed for future expansion," Deputy Chief Mike Lang said, listing training space, evidence processing and private interview rooms among shortfalls.

To inform the council's decision during the due-diligence window, staff recommended two professional services contracts: a whole building and site analysis with Concord Group for $19,950 plus a $5,000 contingency (total $24,950) and a space-needs analysis with FGM Architects for $24,400 plus a $6,100 contingency (total $30,500). City staff explained higher-than-typical contingencies were requested to preserve schedule flexibility during the PSA window.

The council approved the bundled motion by roll call, 8-0. If the city proceeds after due diligence, staff said the city would then develop cost estimates for conversion and a timeline for future council consideration of full build-out costs. The city emphasized the PSA allows termination during the inspection period and refund of the earnest money if major red flags are found.

The next steps are completion of the building and site analysis and the space-needs study during the 90-day inspection window; staff said the studies will include conceptual renderings and cost estimates that the council will review before any final purchase decision or build-out authorization.