District 204 finalizes Eola Road land purchase

When buying 84 acres, it pays and saves time to have cash.

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials say they obtained title Wednesday afternoon to the 84.1 acres board members agreed to purchase Monday night from St. John AME Church.

The district paid roughly $18.9 million for the parcel along Eola Road south of Diehl Road near Aurora.

Unlike purchasing a home, it was "extremely easy" to close on the parcel within 36 hours, school board President Mark Metzger said.

He said officials have had closing documents for the church property "ready to go" since February when the district was prepared to purchase only 49 acres from the church.

"The church had to prove they owned all 84 acres before selling us 49. Once they did that, all we had to do was reconfigure the title and move forward," Metzger said. "The hardest part of any land transaction is the loan paperwork and title paperwork.

"But this was a cash deal, so the loan paperwork was eliminated and the title paperwork literally included changing two lines."

Now that the district owns the land, Metzger said excavation work is expected to begin May 7. Installation of silt fences and other preparatory work will begin any day now.

"The only reason for a bulldozer to be out there prior to May 7 would be for show and we're not doing that," he said.

May 7 is also the day Aurora planning commissioners are expected to amend annexation plans approved last month by the city council.

Despite breaking ground nearly three weeks after their self-imposed April 15 deadline, Metzger said officials believe the 3,000-student high school will be ready for freshmen and sophomores in August 2009.

Officials say the school is needed to ease overcrowding at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools in the district that covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook.