Islamic group interested in Wheaton school site

An Islamic school has shown interest in the old Hubble Middle School site in Wheaton, with a representative showing up as the only bidder in a live auction Monday.

However, the man responsible for bringing a $300,000 deposit check, a requirement Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 placed on the auction, was called away to a family emergency.

Muhammad Shamsi, a realtor representing the College Preparatory School of America, said the school had outgrown its Lombard location and wanted to expand. Shamsi was the only person to signed in as active bidders on the 22-acre property.

He said he was ready to make a bid, but school officials said he could not without the deposit.

Shamsi said an official bid on behalf of the school should be entered within the next few days.

With no bids officially submitted on the property, the school board said it would now consider “reasonable offers” that meet the minimum sale price of $5 million. That’s half the minimum bid the board required when it previously submitted bids on the property.

If an offer comes forward, the board would convene in closed session to discuss it. Any action or approval, however, would happen in open session.

Board president Rosemary Swanson remains upbeat about the sale.

“I understand the community may be getting impatient but part of the public process is patience,” Swanson said. “We will get there.”

A handful of developers, school board members and residents attended the auction. Swanson said seeing the developers there was encouraging, even though none bid and only Shamsi showed an interest in bidding.

The auction was quick, with school attorney Ares Dalianis closing it once it was clear that Shamsi did not have the required deposit.

“It will be a very nice proposal,” Shamsi said. “It has to be a good thing for everybody.”

The emergence of the not-for-profit school could change things for the district. For months, officials have said their main goal has been to return the property to the tax rolls. But that would not happen if the school sells to the Islamic group.

Swanson said she did not want to comment on any specific offers because, as of right now, they remain hypothetical.

“The intent of the board all along has been to sell the property and get it back on the tax rolls,” she said.

That message has been consistent from the school district for months. After announcing in December that several developers had expressed “significant interest” in the property, the school district had it appraised at $10 million. That provided the minimum bid in a sealed-bid auction that started in February. The 60-day auction garnered no interest and so the school was forced to lower the minimum bid and announced the live auction April 14.