Fifteen months after first coming before the Bloomington City Council, the Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal may finally be getting its new land on the city’s west side.
The Boys & Girls Club wants to buy 3 acres at Sunnyside Park to build its new clubhouse, just down the street from its current home on Illinois Street. The city would sell it the land for $1.
City Council members gave the plan a warm reception back in May 2018, then formally approved moving ahead with the agreement in September 2018. The finalized sale is now expected to come before the Bloomington City Council on Aug. 26.
“It has taken much longer than I would’ve liked,” Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner said Tuesday on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “Sometimes there are legal issues and legal beagles that get in the way, and sometimes there are bureaucratic snafus. But it will happen.”
Boys & Girls Club CEO Tony Morstatter confirmed Tuesday that the sale process has “taken a lot longer than expected.” But he said it was important to reach an agreement that pleased both parties.
The Boys & Girls Club plans to raise money privately to construct a new building on the newly acquired land. A formal fundraising effort has not yet launched, though preliminary campaign work is underway, Morstatter said. He said the club has been keeping key stakeholders informed about the project’s status.
“It’s a different conversation without having that land solidified,” Morstatter said.
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