Post by sushi on Mar 15, 2008 7:26:03 GMT -6
Threat of big payout against Dist. 204
Spurned landowners could seek $13 million from District 204
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 3/15/2008 12:32 AMSend To:
Imagine being forced to pay $13 million for something you don't even want.
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials could find themselves in that position pending the outcome of Monday's court date regarding their failed effort to acquire the Brach-Brodie land in Aurora for Metea Valley High School.
The district and representatives of the Brach-Brodie trust are expected to appear at 9 a.m. before Circuit Judge Robert Kilander. They will discuss what the property owners want to recoup as a result of the district's decision to abandon its pursuit of 55 acres near 75th Street and Commons Drive. The district already owns 25 acres there.
District 204 had selected the Brach-Brodie site for the proposed 3,000-student high school, but backed away after a jury decided the 55 acres were worth $31 million -- about $17 million more than the school system was prepared to pay.
"The court will want to know who's going to make what kind of claim, when we are going to have a hearing on those claims and if there is going to be discovery to determine whether the claims are bona fide," property trust attorney Steve Helm said.
Those claims could top $13 million, Helm said Friday. He said that figure is based on reports from hired experts who determined the value of the acreage rapidly declined between December 2005 when the district attempted to condemn it and this February when the district formally ended its condemnation effort.
Helm said his clients first will ask the judge to force the district to use funds secured in its $125 million 2006 referendum to buy the property.
If the district is unable to do so, it will be asked to reimburse the trust for about $3 million in legal fees and roughly $9.5 million in damages caused by the decreasing value of the property.
"The property has undergone a big loss in value from December 2005, when we were subjected to the condemnation lawsuit, until Feb. 4, 2008," Helm said. "During that time the market went from a fantastic market to all of a sudden being a market that is not as good as it was.
"The Brodies will be seeking that reduction in value that results from the abandonment if they don't come back to buy our property."
School district attorney Rick Petesch did not return calls Friday. School board President Mark Metzger said the district has budgeted for some of the estimated legal fees but not for any decrease in property values.
"We asked early on in October for the fee estimates and we were told they would be as much as $4 million, so we budgeted $5 million," Metzger said. He would not comment on any additional damage claims the trust might seek.
Officials say Monday's proceedings are unlikely to derail the district's plans to build Metea on their newly selected site along Eola Road south of Diehl Road near Aurora.
Superintendent Stephen Daeschner last week said he hopes the district will close on the 87-acre Eola Road parcel owned by St. John AME Church and Midwest Generation on March 19.
On Friday, Metzger declined to set the same target date.
"The sale will close when it's ready to close," he said.
The Aurora City Council is expected to annex the Eola Road site on March 25.
School officials say they're still hopeful they will be able to open the bulk of Metea Valley in the fall of 2009.
Spurned landowners could seek $13 million from District 204
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 3/15/2008 12:32 AMSend To:
Imagine being forced to pay $13 million for something you don't even want.
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials could find themselves in that position pending the outcome of Monday's court date regarding their failed effort to acquire the Brach-Brodie land in Aurora for Metea Valley High School.
The district and representatives of the Brach-Brodie trust are expected to appear at 9 a.m. before Circuit Judge Robert Kilander. They will discuss what the property owners want to recoup as a result of the district's decision to abandon its pursuit of 55 acres near 75th Street and Commons Drive. The district already owns 25 acres there.
District 204 had selected the Brach-Brodie site for the proposed 3,000-student high school, but backed away after a jury decided the 55 acres were worth $31 million -- about $17 million more than the school system was prepared to pay.
"The court will want to know who's going to make what kind of claim, when we are going to have a hearing on those claims and if there is going to be discovery to determine whether the claims are bona fide," property trust attorney Steve Helm said.
Those claims could top $13 million, Helm said Friday. He said that figure is based on reports from hired experts who determined the value of the acreage rapidly declined between December 2005 when the district attempted to condemn it and this February when the district formally ended its condemnation effort.
Helm said his clients first will ask the judge to force the district to use funds secured in its $125 million 2006 referendum to buy the property.
If the district is unable to do so, it will be asked to reimburse the trust for about $3 million in legal fees and roughly $9.5 million in damages caused by the decreasing value of the property.
"The property has undergone a big loss in value from December 2005, when we were subjected to the condemnation lawsuit, until Feb. 4, 2008," Helm said. "During that time the market went from a fantastic market to all of a sudden being a market that is not as good as it was.
"The Brodies will be seeking that reduction in value that results from the abandonment if they don't come back to buy our property."
School district attorney Rick Petesch did not return calls Friday. School board President Mark Metzger said the district has budgeted for some of the estimated legal fees but not for any decrease in property values.
"We asked early on in October for the fee estimates and we were told they would be as much as $4 million, so we budgeted $5 million," Metzger said. He would not comment on any additional damage claims the trust might seek.
Officials say Monday's proceedings are unlikely to derail the district's plans to build Metea on their newly selected site along Eola Road south of Diehl Road near Aurora.
Superintendent Stephen Daeschner last week said he hopes the district will close on the 87-acre Eola Road parcel owned by St. John AME Church and Midwest Generation on March 19.
On Friday, Metzger declined to set the same target date.
"The sale will close when it's ready to close," he said.
The Aurora City Council is expected to annex the Eola Road site on March 25.
School officials say they're still hopeful they will be able to open the bulk of Metea Valley in the fall of 2009.
