Dist. 204 to quit fighting for land

[bob]

jwh said:

Yeah, I don't see the BB parcel as much different than the lot behind Home Depot....and that was only $280K??? Wow.

Lehigh station is the place just south of the train station, north of the mall on Liberty.

[sleeplessinnpvl]

bob said:

The SD paid $257/ in 03.

Costco paid $535 for the corner lot of 59 and 75. Corner lots are the most expensive pieces of land.


Lehigh station went for something like $280K.

The lot across from BB went for $280K.

Now 80 acres goes for less than $225K.

Really looks like jury was wrong.

My point exactly. Thanks for looking into that, Bob. I also believe Costco was in Naperville and our parcel was in Aurora which may affect pricing as well.

Now the BB attorneys are saying the land is really worth $500K an acre, (again, they "think" it is worth that but if people look at what has sold out there, no one would pay that for the land.) And they whine that we have tied this up so long that they will only get $200K an acre now that the "market has declined."

You have to admit, these BB attorneys are slick. Not only do they come up with outrageous comparables and persuade a jury to believe them, but they are using a "down market" to spin a bigger damages case.

[WeBe204]

sleeplessinnpvl said:

bob said:

The SD paid $257/ in 03.

Costco paid $535 for the corner lot of 59 and 75. Corner lots are the most expensive pieces of land.


Lehigh station went for something like $280K.

The lot across from BB went for $280K.

Now 80 acres goes for less than $225K.

Really looks like jury was wrong.

My point exactly. Thanks for looking into that, Bob. I also believe Costco was in Naperville and our parcel was in Aurora which may affect pricing as well.

Now the BB attorneys are saying the land is really worth $500K an acre, (again, they "think" it is worth that but if people look at what has sold out there, no one would pay that for the land.) And they whine that we have tied this up so long that they will only get $200K an acre now that the "market has declined."

You have to admit, these BB attorneys are slick. Not only do they come up with outrageous comparables and persuade a jury to believe them, but they are using a "down market" to spin a bigger damages case.

You might also want to compare the credentials of the "experts" the SD brought vs the real experts BB brought to the table.

[Arch]

sleeplessinnpvl said:

You have to admit, these BB attorneys are slick. Not only do they come up with outrageous comparables and persuade a jury to believe them, but they are using a "down market" to spin a bigger damages case.

They are, like them or hate them. This is why I believe they are going to mop the floor with us and they are going to kick our teeth in.

[sleeplessinnpvl]

archwinsome said:

sleeplessinnpvl said:

You have to admit, these BB attorneys are slick. Not only do they come up with outrageous comparables and persuade a jury to believe them, but they are using a "down market" to spin a bigger damages case.

They are, like them or hate them. This is why I believe they are going to mop the floor with us and they are going to kick our teeth in.

Yes, you are both right. I can't understand how we lost by such a huge number. Was the jury sleeping through our presentation of facts? Did our attorneys do nothing to present our case? The BB guys probably will mop us up!

[jftb]

Unfortunately D204 had a bad case from the beginning. While BB was a great option for us location-wise, once our option expired after the first referendum failed, they had no obligation to sell us the land at the original price. It was a ludricrous lawsuit with no merit exemplified by the fact that the judge awarded court costs to BB. It is soooooo hard to get your attorneys' fees awarded....the case has to be so ridiculous....look at how the court wouldn't even hear an appeal. We should throw each and every one of these school board members out on their tails for blowing through MILLIONS of our hard-earned tax dollars. If I see ANY of these people re-elected I will vomit. All of this boundary stuff just gets everyone all riled up and takes their focus off of how absolutely incompetent our school board members are.

[WeBe204]

napermom said:

Unfortunately D204 had a bad case from the beginning. While BB was a great option for us location-wise, once our option expired after the first referendum failed, they had no obligation to sell us the land at the original price. It was a ludricrous lawsuit with no merit exemplified by the fact that the judge awarded court costs to BB. It is soooooo hard to get your attorneys' fees awarded....the case has to be so ridiculous....look at how the court wouldn't even hear an appeal. We should throw each and every one of these school board members out on their tails for blowing through MILLIONS of our hard-earned tax dollars. If I see ANY of these people re-elected I will vomit. All of this boundary stuff just gets everyone all riled up and takes their focus off of how absolutely incompetent our school board members are.

Right on, Right on!

[jftb]

BTW, the ten million dollars the SB spent paying for our attorneys and now BB's attorneys...could have bought us the land. How's that for some serious irony?

[Arch]

Watch, as some sick joke the punitive damages will be some additional 10-13 million (or whatever the price gap was between what we offered and what the price was set at, had we bought it).... only in the end.. no land.

[sushi]

slp said:

I agree...the change of site is not so much about money as they make it sound.

What ever happened with the request for a meeting by the Brach attorneys; this request
was reported in the Sun a few weeks ago. The Brach attorney suggested a meeting with the districts' attorneys and the judge...

I want to know if a representative from the district and our attorneys agreed to meet and if so what was the tone?

I find it hard to believe that in today's real estate marketplace that the BB attorneys would not negotiate in good faith now that legal proceedings are behind them.

I fear that egos may have gotten in the way of good negotiations. WHO else is going to buy that land now? It is not Prime space, it is not on Rt. 59 as many falsely state..

A good negotiation team should have made the BB deal work and this whole mess would be behind us. Very disappointing from a business standpoint.

I heard from a source that the Atty's for one of the estates (either Brach or Brodie) wanted to negotiate, the other did not. I also remember reading during the trials that the judge would not allow some information into evidence or whatever. I'm thinking the SD has inept attorneys, to say the least. I think the judge was partial to the estate being strong-armed by the big bad SD.

[rj]

I think the judge was partial to the estate being strong-armed by the big bad SD.

We need more judges like him.
Far too often in eminent domain/ condemnation suits the property owner takes it in the shorts so some government agency can take their land for far less than it is worth. 204 took a gamble, and lost, unfortunately they were betting our money.

[rew]

The DH had an article in yesterday's paper "District 204 officially abandons the BB land in court". Quote from Petesch, district attorney " We'll wait for their motions regarding fees and whatever else they add to that."

Sounds great, time to add it all up. The hearing is scheduled for March 17...Brach/ Brodie...the luck of the Irish? Guess we'll see.

[d204mom]

rew said:

The DH had an article in yesterday's paper "District 204 officially abandons the BB land in court". Quote from Petesch, district attorney " We'll wait for their motions regarding fees and whatever else they add to that."

Sounds great, time to add it all up. The hearing is scheduled for March 17...Brach/ Brodie...the luck of the Irish? Guess we'll see.

More $$ for Whitt, too.

If Daeschner gets his way we'll have closed on both n properties by then.

[rew]

We have abandoned the property at BB. We couldn't force them to sell it to us for $40M now. If the district were to have to abandon the MWG site for any reason, they would have to go back to square one on the land.

That is why I don't believe it will matter what the environmental testing shows on the site, they will spend whatever they have to to build the school there and whatever they have to to get over the court battle with BB. The only question left is how much?

If parents have any concern about hazards, they will have to do the testing after the school is built and go from there.

[bob]

napermom said:

BTW, the ten million dollars the SB spent paying for our attorneys and now BB's attorneys...could have bought us the land. How's that for some serious irony?

I call BS on the $10 million number.