This fall, a new cooling tower goes into the southwest parking lot at Centennial Recreation Complex. It moves off the roof to ground level. The Park District plans to cover its south, east and west faces with a vinyl wrap, and residents have until October 15 to vote on six candidate designs. The Wilmette Park Board approved a $1.3 million contract with ProTemp Mechanical for the job, which came in under a $2.05 million budget, after the old tower reached the end of its useful life.
Two miles of Glenview Road tie together everything else the Park District is weighing. While crews put in equipment meant to keep the Centennial ice arenas running for years, a consultant is studying whether that building, the Community Recreation Center and a former synagogue campus on Big Tree Lane should be kept as they are, renovated, expanded, rebuilt or replaced. Those three sites used to be three separate questions. Since 2024 they have been one.
Three buildings, one study
Most of the study is about the age of the buildings. Here they are side by side, using the build dates the Park District gave in its own request for proposals:
| Site | Address | Dates on record | What's happening now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Recreation Center | 3000 Glenview Road | Built 1968; converted and expanded 1995; gym added 1996; auditorium added 1998 | Interior restoration in its final phases this year |
| Centennial Recreation Complex | 2300 Old Glenview Road | Listed as built 1968; main building 1972; addition 1975; ice rinks renovated 2001 | $1.3 million cooling tower replacement |
| Big Tree Lane | 3220 Big Tree Lane | Bought by the Park District in 2024 | Leased, including to the Wilmette Police Department for temporary headquarters space |
Wilmette's two main indoor recreation buildings both date to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Each has been patched, added onto and renovated in pieces over the decades since. In 2023 and 2024, the Park District's Comprehensive Plan and Strategic Plan named both buildings as priorities for further evaluation. The same plans suggested buying large parcels of land and asked for a better picture of what the community needs.
The Big Tree Lane purchase in 2024 changed what is possible at the other two sites.
What the District bought on Big Tree Lane
The Park Board unanimously approved buying 3220 Big Tree Lane at its May 13, 2024 meeting. The Record North Shore described the site as about 4.8 acres, southwest of Glenview Road near the Edens Expressway. The contract names Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah as the seller, at a price of $5.4 million. A Park District memo from the same month put the size at about 4.7 acres.
The size of the existing building is what makes the property more than a plot of open land. The Record reported in February that the congregation had owned the site since 1961. It includes a 54,000-square-foot building with classrooms, a playground, a garden, a main sanctuary and more than 150 parking spaces.
The District has not rushed to name a use. In June 2024, then-Park Board President Kara Kosloskus told The Record there were "no plans yet" for the property beyond buying it to add park and recreation opportunities. The Park Board formed a committee in mid-2025 to guide discussion of the site. In the meantime, the property is leased. The study's request for proposals said it was leased to Beth Hillel and the Wilmette Police Department through 2027. The Record has reported that the police department will use part of the site as temporary headquarters while its new Ridge Road station is built.
That lease buys the District time. Executive Director Chris Lindgren described what he plans to do with it at a January 20 Park Board session, as The Record reported. He called it the work needed "to end up with a project that is a home run for the community and something that is going to serve as many people as we can."
How Big Tree Lane pulled the CRC and Centennial into the same question
Lindgren's January outline set out the order of work. Stage 1 was gathering public feedback. Stage 2 was reviewing the District's current buildings, especially the Community Recreation Center and Centennial. Stage 3 was what he called a "landscape scan" of what neighboring agencies and communities offer and are building. He said that research would inform local need in categories such as aquatics and ice.
"We want to make sure we bring forward a new amenity," Lindgren said, according to The Record. "We want to make sure the demand is going to be there, and we're not putting something that … we'll struggle to get the usage in that facility."
Because of that reasoning, a plan for the new land can't be made in isolation. Whatever goes on Big Tree Lane changes what the CRC and Centennial need to provide, and the reverse is also true. The study's stated scope matches this. It covers all three sites and will weigh scenarios that run "from maintaining existing facilities to renovation, expansion, reconstruction, or new amenities," along with costs and effects on operations.
The board chose a consultant after a competitive process with nine architecture and planning firms. Finalists presented on June 8, Wight & Company was selected June 22, and work began in July. Over the summer, the team toured all three properties and spoke with maintenance staff about conditions and infrastructure. In August, it started looking at how programs and spaces are used, including participation trends, scheduling and operating costs.
Why the District keeps investing in buildings that are under review
The cooling tower makes more sense once all three sites are viewed together. The study may end up recommending a full rebuild, but the Centennial rinks still have to make ice this winter and next. The Record quoted Commissioner Mike Murdock calling the tower "critical infrastructure." Park Board President Patrick Lahey praised the staff's "methodical and deliberate" approach. The project also included a sound wall, site work planned to run from July into September, and a separate roof restoration expected after the old rooftop tower comes down. In July, ComEd moved the rinks to a new transformer. Public sessions, hockey and classes were paused for part of the week of July 13, while the Wilmette Tennis Club and Centennial Aquatic Center stayed open.
The same holds at the CRC. The District's restoration work covered walls, ceilings, flooring, repainting and restored program spaces. Carpeting and baseboard work started March 30, with gymnastics families sent through a temporary entrance in the North Corridor. A June board report said the lighting and carpet upgrades were finished. The District has not yet posted a formal closeout notice for the full project.
Taken together, this spending keeps the current buildings in good working order so that a long-term decision can wait for evidence. The District also says plainly that "no decisions have been made regarding facility improvements, renovations, or redevelopment."
What residents have said so far, and what's still open
Turnout in the first round of engagement was high. More than 1,100 residents filled out the initial Community Engagement Questionnaire. At the Wilmette Block Party, more than 500 people took part in a "Future of Rec" activity, choosing the spaces, amenities and activities they would want in an ideal recreation center. The District has not released results from either one.
The second round is open now. The Recreation Feasibility Study Survey takes about 15 minutes and asks people to answer for their whole household. It covers how they use current facilities, what works, what needs improvement and what they would like added. According to the District, this round "will inform the development of preliminary concepts" for all three sites. That matches what Lindgren said in January: "We won't be anywhere close to having a concept until we go out to the public."
The timeline has already moved. The District's March request for proposals aimed for a draft study by October 15 and a final presentation on December 14, 2026. Now the survey runs through late October, and the District says a summary of results will be posted on the project page "this winter." The project page lists no documents or presentations so far. No local news outlet has reported on a funding approach or referendum tied to the study, so cost and timing for any concepts remain unknown.
These are the dates on the calendar as of October 12:
- Thursday, October 15: last day to vote on the Centennial cooling tower wrap design. The District plans to install the wrap in the spring.
- October 19 through December 20: the Park District's Late Fall season, with ice skating and hockey programs at Centennial.
- Wednesday, October 28: deadline for the in-depth Recreation Feasibility Study Survey.
- This winter: survey results summary to be posted on the project page.
- Through 2027: the Big Tree Lane leases described in the study's request for proposals.
Chris Lindgren is listed as the study contact at 847-256-9617 or [email protected].
Decisions about community facilities like these shape what a Wilmette address offers for decades, and Audra Casey follows them as closely as she follows sale prices. If you'd like the Park District's winter results summary placed alongside what's happening in the North Shore market, request the Northbrook Market Report and pre-market access, and we'll keep you posted on Big Tree Lane, the CRC and Centennial as plans develop.
