McHenry spends $385K on vacant former bank parcel for more Green Street parking

The McHenry City Council unanimously approved a $385,000 city purchase of a vacant parcel on Green Street last week in order to continue offering public parking there next to lots on three other properties the city previously bought for parking.

After the McHenry Savings Bank left the property, the city spent $611,000 in December 2018 to acquire the three parcels adjacent to the land where the bank building once stood at 1209 N. Green St. but declined to buy that spot three years ago, when the building still was intact and there was hope the property could be redeveloped.

Since then, the building was demolished and the land has failed to yield any redevelopment proposals that came to fruition, city staff said.

The city had been paying $500 a month in rent to use the former building site as public parking, and officials will, at a minimum, resurface and restripe the lot to maximize parking, a project that preliminary estimates have shown could cost about $300,000.

The council also could elect to revamp the entire four-parcel parking site and “reconstruct a brand-new lot that encompasses the entirety of property we hold,” McHenry Public Works Director Troy Strange said.

That more intense project could involve designing a new lot configuration, putting in new curbs and gutters and a new underground storm sewer system to the tune of $1 million or more, Strange said.

A decision on scoping the renovations to the parking area could be made by the council during budget negotiations, City Manager Derik Morefield said.

“It’s fantastic we’re able to do this and get some more parking for a key downtown area on Green Street,” 1st Ward Alderman Vic Santi said. “I just want to reiterate there are other areas that, for example Riverside Drive, which has always been a prosperous active downtown section, are in need of some spaces. Hopefully we’ll find something, a facility in that area where we could put another 30 to 40 spaces.”