Post by cantretirehere on Jan 11, 2007 7:39:29 GMT -6
Developer: Take my land for high school
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, January 11, 2007
A developer says he has the solution to Indian Prairie’s land conundrum: Buy his parcel in southwest Naperville for less than the Brach-Brodie property will cost and begin construction on Metea Valley High School sooner.
Paul Lehman, president of Macom Corp., says he presented Unit District 204 administrators and board members with an alternate plan in October that would allow them to shift their proposed school to his 95 acres at 95th Street and Wolf’s Crossing Road.
He went public with the offer on Wednesday.
“I think it should be Plan A,” he said. “It’s affordable and can be done on a timely basis.”
But Superintendent Howard Crouse disagrees and says the district is better served by waiting to acquire the Brach-Brodie property off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.
The district already owns 25 acres there, but has been unable to reach an agreement on a price for the remaining 55 acres. It now is in condemnation proceedings.
A hearing to determine the parcel’s value must take place before the district will have enough land for a campus to house the $124.7 million, 3,000-student facility officials expect to open in the fall of 2009 to help ease overcrowding at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
But time is money, and officials say construction needs to begin this spring to stay within budget.
“We’ve considered that (Macom property) as an alternative but still believe our best option, given all the factors involved, is the Brach-Brodie piece,” Crouse said.
Shifting gears
Among the problems with shifting gears at this point, he said, is the district already has been through a heated process to redraw high school boundaries based on Metea’s proposed Aurora location.
“We have boundaries for three high schools with that location. Clearly boundaries would have to be redone,” he said. “We did not see any significant incentives to sway us.”
Officials considered seven parcels sprinkled throughout the district — which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield — before choosing Brach-Brodie in late 2005. The Macom site was not among them.
Macom’s parcel, the northernmost of the Ashwood developments, wasn’t considered, officials say, because plans already were established to construct townhouses and duplexes there. Platted land is more expensive, Crouse said.
Lehman said he’s willing to scrap plans for the development to solve a problem for the district and developers alike.
“The school district continues to say there is no other viable site,” he said, “and I’m saying there is another site.”
District 204 could begin moving now, he said, rather than waiting for the courts.
Brach-Brodie waiting
But the district has been working toward acquiring the 80-acre Brach-Brodie site since May 2005 when it purchased the first 25 acres.
Since then, negotiations have bogged down and officials filed a condemnation suit in December 2005 after the land trust’s attorneys rejected their offer of $257,500 an acre for the rest of the parcel.
Attorneys for the district say a court hearing to determine the land’s value can’t begin until June, which would force a construction delay.
School leaders tried to speed the process by seeking “quick-take” powers from state lawmakers that would give them immediate access to begin work but also would lock them into whatever value a jury sets for the land. Lawmakers rejected that measure last fall and it’s unclear whether the district will try again this year.
Lehman says he agrees with Brach-Brodie attorneys who believe the Aurora parcel is worth as much as $600,000 an acre — more than twice what the district has offered and more than it has budgeted.
Naperville businessman Ray Kinney says residents want to know what would happen to the project if land costs soar.
“That begs the question, if the land costs significantly more than they have budgeted, how are they going to get the money?” Kinney said.
Lehman said his asking price is around $20 million. That’s comparable to the $257,500 an acre the district is offering for the Brach-Brodie land along with the $6.4 million it spent on the original 25 acres.
He believes that will be much less than the district will spend if a jury sets the amount.
Crouse said talks of how much the district may spend is pure speculation at this point.
Additionally, the proposal isn’t as simple as just moving the design for the school to a different parcel, school board President Jeannette Clark said.
Agreements would need to be brokered with the Naperville Park District and Will County Forest Preserve District to share some of the land.
Wolf’s Crossing Road currently intersects where Lehman says Metea Valley could sit. The road is scheduled to be rebuilt this spring and there are power lines that would need to be moved.
“It may be a better alternative for him in what he has in mind for his business transaction, but I don’t see it as a better alternative for the school district,” Clark said. “He believes it’s a good alternative, but that’s where it stops.”
His motivation
Lehman admits the plan is somewhat self-serving. Housing sales have fallen since board members assigned students in the Ashwood subdivisions to attend Waubonsie Valley High School, he said.
“Problems with the high schools affect us being able to sell houses, period,” Lehman said. “The second it (the subdivision) moved to Waubonsie Valley, everybody disappeared. Contracts were canceled, etc.”
But the greater incentive, he said, is informing taxpayers there’s an alternative that could potentially be less expensive and allow quicker construction.
Clark disagreed.
“In the future, we would look at other sites perhaps if we absolutely had to, but I think other sites would be a step down from the Brach-Brodie property,” Clark said. “I’m really very confident with the price that we put on it.”
Lehman’s proposal, she said, is “pure speculation and needless speculation to go in that direction.”
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, January 11, 2007
A developer says he has the solution to Indian Prairie’s land conundrum: Buy his parcel in southwest Naperville for less than the Brach-Brodie property will cost and begin construction on Metea Valley High School sooner.
Paul Lehman, president of Macom Corp., says he presented Unit District 204 administrators and board members with an alternate plan in October that would allow them to shift their proposed school to his 95 acres at 95th Street and Wolf’s Crossing Road.
He went public with the offer on Wednesday.
“I think it should be Plan A,” he said. “It’s affordable and can be done on a timely basis.”
But Superintendent Howard Crouse disagrees and says the district is better served by waiting to acquire the Brach-Brodie property off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.
The district already owns 25 acres there, but has been unable to reach an agreement on a price for the remaining 55 acres. It now is in condemnation proceedings.
A hearing to determine the parcel’s value must take place before the district will have enough land for a campus to house the $124.7 million, 3,000-student facility officials expect to open in the fall of 2009 to help ease overcrowding at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
But time is money, and officials say construction needs to begin this spring to stay within budget.
“We’ve considered that (Macom property) as an alternative but still believe our best option, given all the factors involved, is the Brach-Brodie piece,” Crouse said.
Shifting gears
Among the problems with shifting gears at this point, he said, is the district already has been through a heated process to redraw high school boundaries based on Metea’s proposed Aurora location.
“We have boundaries for three high schools with that location. Clearly boundaries would have to be redone,” he said. “We did not see any significant incentives to sway us.”
Officials considered seven parcels sprinkled throughout the district — which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield — before choosing Brach-Brodie in late 2005. The Macom site was not among them.
Macom’s parcel, the northernmost of the Ashwood developments, wasn’t considered, officials say, because plans already were established to construct townhouses and duplexes there. Platted land is more expensive, Crouse said.
Lehman said he’s willing to scrap plans for the development to solve a problem for the district and developers alike.
“The school district continues to say there is no other viable site,” he said, “and I’m saying there is another site.”
District 204 could begin moving now, he said, rather than waiting for the courts.
Brach-Brodie waiting
But the district has been working toward acquiring the 80-acre Brach-Brodie site since May 2005 when it purchased the first 25 acres.
Since then, negotiations have bogged down and officials filed a condemnation suit in December 2005 after the land trust’s attorneys rejected their offer of $257,500 an acre for the rest of the parcel.
Attorneys for the district say a court hearing to determine the land’s value can’t begin until June, which would force a construction delay.
School leaders tried to speed the process by seeking “quick-take” powers from state lawmakers that would give them immediate access to begin work but also would lock them into whatever value a jury sets for the land. Lawmakers rejected that measure last fall and it’s unclear whether the district will try again this year.
Lehman says he agrees with Brach-Brodie attorneys who believe the Aurora parcel is worth as much as $600,000 an acre — more than twice what the district has offered and more than it has budgeted.
Naperville businessman Ray Kinney says residents want to know what would happen to the project if land costs soar.
“That begs the question, if the land costs significantly more than they have budgeted, how are they going to get the money?” Kinney said.
Lehman said his asking price is around $20 million. That’s comparable to the $257,500 an acre the district is offering for the Brach-Brodie land along with the $6.4 million it spent on the original 25 acres.
He believes that will be much less than the district will spend if a jury sets the amount.
Crouse said talks of how much the district may spend is pure speculation at this point.
Additionally, the proposal isn’t as simple as just moving the design for the school to a different parcel, school board President Jeannette Clark said.
Agreements would need to be brokered with the Naperville Park District and Will County Forest Preserve District to share some of the land.
Wolf’s Crossing Road currently intersects where Lehman says Metea Valley could sit. The road is scheduled to be rebuilt this spring and there are power lines that would need to be moved.
“It may be a better alternative for him in what he has in mind for his business transaction, but I don’t see it as a better alternative for the school district,” Clark said. “He believes it’s a good alternative, but that’s where it stops.”
His motivation
Lehman admits the plan is somewhat self-serving. Housing sales have fallen since board members assigned students in the Ashwood subdivisions to attend Waubonsie Valley High School, he said.
“Problems with the high schools affect us being able to sell houses, period,” Lehman said. “The second it (the subdivision) moved to Waubonsie Valley, everybody disappeared. Contracts were canceled, etc.”
But the greater incentive, he said, is informing taxpayers there’s an alternative that could potentially be less expensive and allow quicker construction.
Clark disagreed.
“In the future, we would look at other sites perhaps if we absolutely had to, but I think other sites would be a step down from the Brach-Brodie property,” Clark said. “I’m really very confident with the price that we put on it.”
Lehman’s proposal, she said, is “pure speculation and needless speculation to go in that direction.”
