In spite of possible service cuts and fare increases, suburban transit agency Pace is moving foward with plans to build a new headquarters in Northwest Suburban Arlington Heights. The Pace board approved a contract for the $13.7 million plan Wednesday night. Judi Kulm is a spokesperson for Pace. She says the building plan has been in the works for more than a decade. “And another thing is, this is federal dollars that our legislators worked to bring to this state. If we don’t use them, they go back on the table and some other state could get advantage of them, when in fact, building a building here is jobs for Illinois,” Kulm says.

Kulm says the project would largely be funded by the federal grant, with money also coming from the Regional Transportation Authority and Pace itself. Kulm says all the money going to the project has been set aside for capital development and could not have been used for operating expenses.