Mundelein High to delay building on golf course

With enrollment apparently leveling off, Mundelein High School officials are delaying plans to convert a nearby golf course into a second campus.

The school board on Tuesday finalized a deal with Golf Visions Management Corp. of West suburban Northlake to run the Village Green Country Club through January 2013.

The agreement allows the school to maintain ownership of the site even as golfers play the 18-hole course. It also will make the district money -- at least $35,000 next year -- regardless of how many people actually visit Village Green.

Longtime golfer Joe Cromer was excited to hear the course will be around for at least five more years.

"We're seniors, and this is one we can afford to play at," Cromer, 80, of Park Ridge, said Wednesday morning while golfing.

"This is our home base," added fellow golfer and friend Russ Baratta, 82, of Chicago.

Village Green is at the southeast corner of Midlothian and Winchester roads, about one mile north of the high school campus.

The board agreed to buy the 92-acre site for $8.4 million in 2004. The deal called for three equal payments of about $2.8 million.

School officials are scheduled to make the final payment in January.

When it approved the 2004 deal, the board was praised for thinking of future needs. After years of enrollment growth -- triple-digit increases were not uncommon earlier this decade -- the board had been searching for land for a second building or athletic fields.

But Mundelein High's student population seems to be leveling off. Enrollment is 2,325 this year, up about 33 students from last year. And last year's figure was only 11 students larger than the population during the 2005-06 term.

With growth slowing, officials are trying to solve space needs on the existing Hawley Street campus, co-interim Superintendent John Barbini said. Keeping Village Green open seemed like a good option, he said.

"(We) can earn a little income and the community can enjoy the recreational aspects of having a golf course at that site," he said.

School officials inked the deal with Golf Vision because they didn't want to be in the golf business, Barbini said. The company runs courses in Cary, Harvard and Batavia.

Golf Vision will lease Village Green from the school district after the school takes ownership in January. The firm will maintain the course, carry insurance for it and pay a percentage of the land's property taxes, Barbini said.

It also will share the profits from the course with the school.

In 2008 and 2009, the school will collect 4 percent of the club's gross revenues, or $35,000 minimum each year, Barbini said.

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the school will collect 5 percent of the club's gross revenues, or $50,000 minimum each year, Barbini said.

The agreement, which the board approved unanimously, gives the panel three options for 2013 and beyond, officials said. It can:

• Build a second campus on the property when the lease expires, if student enrollment exceeds current projections.

• Extend the lease on an annual basis if student enrollment stays on track.

• Sell the land if the property's value increases.

Mundelein High enrollment

The student population is leveling off, allowing administrators to postpone developing a local golf course into a second campus.

Year Enrollment Change

2007 2,325 +1.4%

2006 2,292 +0.5%

2005 2,281 +0.5%

2004 2,269 +8.4%

2003 2,093 +3.5%

Source: Mundelein High School