Developers make new offer to sell Hobson West land to park district

Land in Naperville's Hobson West neighborhood still might become a park after all.

Nearly three months after negotiations fell apart, Crestview Builders is making a new offer to sell the six acres to Naperville Park District for $2.5 million. That's the same amount the district offered to pay earlier this year.

"Even though Crestview Builders, Inc. has invested over $4 million in the purchase and development of this property, we believe that the optimum use ... is for a park site," owners Ron Wehrli and Mike Steck wrote in a brief letter to the park board Wednesday afternoon.

The park district already owns nine acres at the site between Plainfield-Naperville Road and West Street. For several years, a group of residents has been urging commissioners to buy the land in between to create a 15-acre park, but the district has never been able to settle on a price with Crestview Builders, which otherwise plans to build townhouses on it.

In June, the developer offered to sell 2.31 acres for $2.5 million and pledge the remaining 3.69 acres as a gift after holding it in escrow for two years. Crestview attorneys said at the time that the deal was structured that way based on recommendations of a tax accountant. That offer was also a reduction in price from the $4.1 million Crestview was asking for earlier in the year.

But the park district rejected the offer, saying it didn't feel confident it would be legally enforceable down the road and indicated the matter was closed.

It remained that way until Wednesday when the developers said they would sell the entire site for $2.5 million and allow the district to take ownership within 30 days of its acceptance, according to Crestview's letter.

Crestview attorney Bill Brestal called the offer "very magnanimous of them (Wehrli and Steck) to be willing to do this for the community."

"As a developer they didn't want to develop something that the neighbors are totally against," Brestal said. "It's a tough situation to be in when you're a local boy and a local developer, but if we have to we will. There are a lot of people who would like to live there.

"It's a beautiful spot for townhomes, it really is, but it is a much more beautiful spot for a park between two lakes."

Park board President Suzanne Hart, who has previously supported purchasing the land, was not aware of the deal until being contacted late Wednesday by the Daily Herald. She said she was unhappy to first learn of the offer from the media.

However, she said park district attorneys will review the offer.

Commissioner Andrew Schaffner also hadn't seen the Crestview letter as of late Wednesday afternoon but previously has supported the purchase.

"It's exciting news," he said. "I'm looking forward to reviewing the offer."