The Deerfield Public library in May will move into the former home of Honquest Furniture Outlet Plus, near at the corner of Waukegan and Lake Cook Roads, library officials said this week.
The move is temporary as the library will be closed for a year while it undergoes a $12 million expansion and renovation. Officials are negotiating with Cadwell’s Corners Shopping Mall for a lease that’s expect to be signed soon, according to Ken Abosch, library board president.
The 22,000-square-foot site is smaller than the current library, which is about 32,000-square-feet and will be about 10,000-square-feet larger after the renovations.
Construction is expected to last a year, with the expanded library slated to reope in May 2013, Abosch said.
The temporary site will house most of the library’s collection, he said.
In 2010, the majority of Deerfield voters supported spending $12 million for an addition, upgrades and repairs to the library.
About 60 percent of voters said “yes” to a referendum asking if they would support a borrowing plan for the library that would raise property taxes. Owners of homes with a market value of $500,000 will pay about $90 more a year in taxes as a result.
Honquest Furniture Outlet Plus at 7 N. Waukegan Road, which opened in 2010 on a trial basis, closed about two months ago.
Honquest representatives had taken out a short-term lease at the Deerfield location, with plans to stay if it could make $2 million to $3 million in revenues annually. The first six months showed mixed results, officials told the village.
The Deerfield outlet sold accessories, overstock floor samples and factory-discontinued furniture.
Honquest selected the Deerfield site based on its clientele, many of whom live on the North Shore. The location was an extension of its main store at 1455 S. Barrington Road, which has more than 80,000 square feet of showroom and warehouse space.
Before Honquest moved in, the retail space had been vacant for about three years. It had previously been a furniture store called the Rec Room, Deerfield officials said.
