Little Friends selling Naperville land, but historic mansion's future unknown
Students at the schools operated by the disability services agency Little Friends are set to finish this year in Naperville and start the next in Warrenville.
The nonprofit organization has entered into agreements to sell its 4-acre property on Wright Street in the Naperville Historic District and to buy a nearly 7-acre site at 27555 Diehl Road in Warrenville, Little Friends officials announced Tuesday.
But the announcement was missing two pieces of information neighbors of the Wright Street campus want to know: Who is buying the property? And what will happen to the Kroehler mansion?
While Little Friends has worked since December 2018 to sell its property and move to a space better suited for modern education, preservationists and neighbors have pushed to ensure a future for the roughly 110-year-old mansion. Built in 1907 and 1908, it was the home of two-term Naperville mayor and furniture company magnate Peter Kroehler until he moved out in 1910 when he and his wife divorced.
The mansion is one of five buildings on the Little Friends site, which also includes Krejci Academy, an administration building, a gym and a carriage house now used as a garage. Preservationists say the mansion is worth saving, and the city has offered an incentive of up to $562,000 to Little Friends if the agency accepts an offer from a buyer who will commit to saving the structure.
Little Friends spokesman Patrick Skarr said Tuesday the agency declines to divulge the buyer at this time and would not comment on the mansion's future.
"I'm sure there will be rumors and speculation, but the best thing to do is to allow the purchaser to continue with their diligence and proof of concept, so they can provide the community with a comprehensive update when they are ready," Little Friends CEO Mike Briggs said in a news release. "We know that our time with the property is coming to a close and that something more appropriate and ascetically pleasing will take our place."
Little Friends did not release the sale price of the Wright Street property, but said the money will help with the $7 million cost of buying the Warrenville building from Burnham Property Management and remodeling it for school use.
Plans by Wight & Company call for up to 33 classrooms inside a 73,828-square-foot building, with flexible learning space throughout the campus, a 28,000-square-foot playground built inside a courtyard, 280 parking spots and space for efficient school bus drop-off.
"Our new state-of-the-industry campus will provide a modern educational environment befitting of the population we serve, and further support our talented teachers and staff as they help our students make extraordinary gains every day," Briggs said.
Meanwhile, the buildings on the Naperville property all have city permission to be torn down once Little Friends is done using them.
The carriage house can be demolished without any city review, while the historic preservation commission granted permission to raze Krejci Academy, the administration building and the gym. The city council overturned a historic preservation commission denial and also gave the OK for the Kroehler mansion to be torn down.
But after granting that permission, council members also offered up to $562,000 to help facilitate preservation of the house on the property. The incentive has not been officially granted, but city council members approved a resolution in support of the idea in December.
Nearby resident Julie Garrison said the council should have upheld the denial of permission to tear down the mansion. That way, she said, taxpayer dollars would not be on the line to be devoted to potential preservation of the structure.