Elmwood Park is planning to buy the land at the New Horizon Temple site and turn it into a park.
At a board meeting earlier this month, the Village Board of Trustees approved a contract to purchase the site on West Elmgrove Drive for $605,000. The acquisition is expected to be finalized by the end of the month, village manager Paul Volpe said.
“It’s a relatively congested part of town, in the middle of the residential area …. It’s just to create some open space in an area that we believe could really use it,” Volpe said.
The village received a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that funds half of the acquisition cost, and will be pursuing more state funding to turn the site into a park, according to Volpe.
The demolition of the church is expected to commence in early spring 2021, and depending on the state funding, the park could be ready to open in 2022.
Volpe said there will be a splash pad and other “passive recreation” activities for families at the park.
The church is eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Places, so the village will pay an expert to conduct a Historic American Building Survey, which creates an archive of the church’s history, before it’s demolished, Volpe said. As part of the purchase agreement, the current owner will remove the pews, windows and other items that can be reused and salvaged.
akim@chicagotribune.com
