Showers West

Bloomington redevelopment commission meeting. From left: John West, Deb Hutton, Sue Sgambelluri, Randy Cassady, and Deborah Myerson. (Jan. 31, 2024))

Bloomington city councilmember Matt Flaherty (Jan. 24, 2024)

Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson (Jan. 24, 2024)

By Monday (Feb. 5), it should be clear if Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson intends to implement the plan for Showers West just as it was drawn up by her predecessor, John Hamilton.

Hamilton planned to move both the fire department administration and police operations into the Showers West portion of the city hall building.

Next Monday is when Bloomington’s redevelopment commission will meet to vote on awarding the bids for the Showers West construction contracts. The contracts are for the renovation and remodeling work that would need to be done on the 110-year-old former brick furniture factory building, before the city departments would move in.

It was around a year ago when Bloomington’s city council authorized the purchase of Showers West from CFC Properties for a price of $8.75 million. The idea at the time, which was the basis of support from some councilmembers, who were on on the prevailing side of a 5–4 split, was to move the police department into the same city hall building as most other departments of the city.

But at a special meeting of the RDC on Wednesday afternoon, city attorney Larry Allen gave a preview of sorts about what the RDC will hear from the Thomson administration as a recommendation for action.

At this point, it does not sound like Thomson necessarily wants to proceed immediately with moving the police department into Showers West.

That’s consistent with the position of the police union, which has, from the time the idea was first floated, resisted the move—citing security concerns about the building as well as entrance and egress issues. Continue reading “Bloomington police move to Showers West uncertain, as more early move outs by tenants OK’d by RDC” →