District 54 hoping to sell unused Schaumburg land

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 has negotiated a new deadline of Dec. 5 for developer DRH Cambridge Homes to complete environmental testing ahead of a proposed $1.1 million land sale.

The district plans to sell the builder a vacant 4.4-acre site on Thacker Street near the intersection of Verde Drive in Schaumburg, directly east of Conant High School. The property was donated to District 54 in 1993.

Because of a body of water on the site, there are about 2.5 buildable acres there, District 54 spokeswoman Terri McHugh said.

The land has been under contract for sale once before, but that previous developer dropped out of the deal, she added.

In February, the District 54 school board hired a broker to market the property. DRH Cambridge Homes' initial offer was rejected by the school board on April 21.

The district made a counteroffer of $1.1 million, to which DRH Cambridge Homes agreed May 1. The school board approved a formal contract for sale of the land on June 16.

Since then, the developer has been engaged in environmental testing of the site while meeting with Schaumburg village officials and communicating with the Army Corps of Engineers.

On the brink of running out time under the original terms of the contract, DRH Cambridge requested an extension of the deadline for environmental testing to December.

Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 recently established a three-year plan to determine the use of a 60-acre site it acquired in Schaumburg decades ago for a potential sixth high school that was never built.

The village of Schaumburg's comprehensive land-use plan has considered residential development the most likely future use of the land between Summit Drive and Plum Grove Road for at least the last 20 years.