County officials are looking to relocate all non-judicial offices from the crowded Knox County Courthouse to a nearby downtown Galesburg property.
The Knox County Board recently gave approval to Chairman Jared Hawkinson to seek a purchase contract for the former Wells Fargo Bank building at 50 E. Main St.
The property is priced at $850,000 according to an online listing by Mel Foster Co. of Galesburg.
Hawkinson tells WGIL the county is negotiationing with the owner on final pricing. He said the county is in the process of a due diligence period that runs through March 6, 2024.
“At this point, we’ve entered a contract and we’re negotiating the selling price,” Hawkinson said. “We have our engineering firm drawing up plans to best utilize the space, and how it would meet our current needs.
“We are basically doing the pre-purchase inspection that any good property buyer would perform.”
Non-judicial offices would move from courthouse
Relocating from the courthouse to the new facility on the Public Square would be the offices of county clerk, recorder and treasurer, in addition to the veterans commission and assessor from the annex building.
“That would open up substantial space within the courthouse for judicial services,” Hawkinson said. “Additional space has been a much-needed thing inside our courthouse for a long time.”
The Knox County Board approved exploring the move by a 14-0 vote at a special meeting Nov. 6.
The purchase would most likely be financed with American Rescue Plan Act funds, according to Hawkinson.
“It’s still in the works,” he said. “We have money set aside, and we’re trying to figure out what is the best option. Most likely, it will come from funds remaining in our ARPA fund.
“We’ve been holding on to that, just for this purpose.”
Hawkinson said the county has until March 6 to proceed with or withdraw from the purchase of the former Wells Fargo building.
“From what we have seen so far, there’s not a whole lot that we would need to do to the place,” Hawkinson said. “It’s in stellar shape.
“There would obviously need to be some construction to suit the needs of the county, but we wouldn’t be tearing down or adding a lot of walls. It would pretty much be an open floor plan.”
The location of the property, which is just two blocks north of the Knox County Courthouse, factors into the interest in the building, according to Hawkinson.
“The ease of access to the public is definitely there,” he said. “And it would be convenient for those going back and forth between the two buildings.”
Built in 1968 as the original facility of Home Savings & Loan, the building has 6,527 square feet on both the main and second floors. There also is a basement.
Approximately 30 to 35 county employees would move into the 50 E. Main St. building.
County Board chairman: ‘This is much overdue’
Hawkinson said the new facility in the former bank building also would not require full security that’s currently in place at the courthouse.
“This is much overdue,” Hawkinson said. “And hopefully this will allow the public to have a better experience when making use of the services the county provides.”
If the property meets due diligence, Hawkinson said he could envision the county moving to the 50 E. Main St. by late summer 2024.
Wells Fargo notified its customers via a letter dated April 9, 2021, it would be permanently closing its downtown facility, 50 E. Main St., effective noon July 14, 2021.
