South Suburban Village Celebrates Opening Of New Municipal Center

President of the Village of Hazel Crest, Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. (pictured), recently celebrated the grand opening of the Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. Municipal Center located on 3601 183rd St. in Hazel Crest. Photo Credit: Katherine Newman
President of the Village of Hazel Crest, Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. (pictured), recently celebrated the grand opening of the Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. Municipal Center located on 3601 183rd St. in Hazel Crest. Photo Credit: Katherine Newman

South Suburban Village Celebrates Opening Of New Municipal Center

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Village of Hazel Crest recently hosted a grand opening ceremony for its new Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. Municipal Center located on 3601 183rd St. The new municipal center, which is named after the current Village President, provides office space for village services, meeting rooms and event space for the community to utilize, and is outfitted with state-of-the-art technology.

When Vernard Alsberry Jr., president of the Village of Hazel Crest, was first elected to serve as a trustee for the Village of Hazel Crest in 2003, he said that they were already having talks about the need for a new municipal center and when he was eventually elected to serve as Village President in 2013, he became motivated to find a new facility for the Village to operate out of.

“We started looking around when I first got elected but after my first term and going into to the second election, we really got serious about finding a new place,” said Alsberry. “We brought together the Village Trustees and the Village Manager and we took road trips. We went out to municipalities on the far west and in the northwest suburbs to look at some of their facilities and to see how their downtown areas were looking because we want this new municipal center to be part of an overall revitalization in the Village of Hazel Crest.”

The Village was able to purchase the building that is now home to the Vernard L. Alsberry Jr. Municipal Center from the South Suburban Land Bank Authority and do a complete renovation of the space to accommodate their needs.

During the development phase, Alsberry said that he asked the Village employees to come up with ideas and recommendations about what would make their work environment the most functional for them and he then turned those ideas over to the designer who worked to incorporate them.

“Being in this new building is like getting a new house and everyone is excited and they love all the bells and whistles. I also think that when businesses come here to do business with our community, it displays professionalism. When they walk in here, they’re going to think ‘wow, I would like to bring my businesses here’ because of what we have in Hazel Crest,” said Alsberry.

Overall, Alsberry said he is humbled to know that his legacy will be carried on through the new municipal center which was named in his honor. He said that he is happy that the staff and the residents of the Village of Hazel Crest have something to be proud of and a place to take care of their business.

“I’m glad that the staff and everyone who was involved in this process was patient because it wasn’t easy. Even as we tweak everything and keep moving along, I’m glad people are patient with that and I’m so excited that the citizens are excited about it,” said Alsberry.

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