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Northfield Township has new digs
Northfield Township Trustee Carol Blustein (left) and Township Supervisor Jill Brickman walk through the new office space for Northfield Township. | Geoff Scheerer~Sun-Times Media
Updated: March 8, 2013 6:16AM
GLENVIEW — The Northfield Township administrative building and Food Pantry has a new location, but will remain in Glenview.
For $560,000, township trustees recently agreed to purchase an office and warehouse of a former cement company at 3000 Avenue E, west of Shermer Road near The Glen.
The township has rented first-floor space at 3801 W. Lake Ave. next to Glenbrook South High School since the 1970s, said Township Supervisor Jill Brickman. The current rent is $6,018 a month.
The building’s owner, Glenbrook High School District 225, has administrative offices on the second and third floors and wants to occupy the first level.
“The things that appealed to us were the new offices and especially the warehouse with a high ceiling for storing food for the pantry,” Brickman said.
“The configuration gives us a lot more room and efficiency for serving the people. We’ve been looking for a couple of years,” she said, adding 731 families have used the food pantry to date.
“We worked hard to increase the convenience for the majority of our clients.”
The township serves unincorporated parts of Northfield, Glenview and Northbrook.
Township Trustee Carol Blustein said the move could be in late spring or summer.
“I feel this is the best use of taxpayers’ money. By owning our own building we can build equity in paying down the mortgage,” she said.
“We hope to expand services without raising taxes, which is paramount because taxes are high enough,” Blustein said, adding the additional food pantry space could be used to teach nutrition classes.
The warehouse will be arranged similar to a grocery store where people can walk among aisles, instead of receiving pre-packed bags of food at the current building.
“People can come in and choose food. We’ll also have storage with a walk-in freezer. It’s exciting to finally have our own facility,” said Blustein, estimating the building was 10 years old.
Trustee Brendan Appel said the purchase will slightly lower the township’s expenses.
“You pay into taxes through rent, but as property owners we won’t pay taxes because public properties aren’t taxed,” he said.
Appel said no changes in township staffing were planned and the new building was more centrally located.
The Northfield Township Food Pantry was started more than 30 years ago to provide township residents with enough food for themselves and their families.
In April 2003, the pantry became an agency of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
