Economy hits Mundelein subdivision
Among the thousands of delinquent tax bills sold to investors last week were dozens representing the majority of lots in a stalled Mundelein subdivision.
A smattering of homes have been built in Tall Grass Ridge, south of Midlothian Road at Courtland Street. But when or if others will follow is at the mercy of the economy.
"We have no idea how long the build-out could possibly take," said Carna McEneely, land and construction resources manager for Grand Pointe Homes.
In another example of the big hit on the home building business, drastic cuts in staffing caused the Elgin-based company to overlook the property taxes due on 41 unbuilt lots, she said.
The delinquent bills, totaling about $6,600, were sold last week to investors at Lake County's annual tax sale.
As a delinquent taxpayer, Grand Pointe, doing business in Mundelein as Tall Grass Ridge LLC, has 2 1/2 years to pay the taxes, plus a penalty, or risk losing the properties to the investors.
"We have cut our staff drastically due to the current economy and it was overlooked," McEneely wrote in an e-mail Monday. She added that the company is working to redeem the bills.
Talks also continue with Mundelein officials on the status of public improvements within the subdivision that were supposed to have been completed by the end of the year.
Those included spreading a substantial pile of topsoil, seeding the undeveloped lots and installing sidewalks.
McEneely said Grand Pointe would seek an extension of the deadline.
She added that the final street surface will be installed to protect the road base, a detail that doesn't usually occur until 75 percent of the homes are built.
"For the most part, it's operational," said Bill Emmerich, village engineer. "There isn't a whole lot to do, it's just unfortunate timing of things."
According to the village, there is about $450,000 of the original $1.2 million in funds guaranteed by Grand Pointe remaining for public improvements. The village board last month declared the builder in default of the subdivision improvement agreement.
As winter is here, it is expected the bulk of the work will be mandated for spring although the builder will be asked to stabilize the dirt mound sooner.
"The suburban land development machine is kind of upside down," Emmerich said. "We have guarantees in place to complete the (public) improvements but what happens with the individual private property lots is anybody's guess.
The company also has ongoing projects in West Dundee, Aurora, Algonquin, Lake Villa and Lindenhurst. McEneely said most of those projects are about complete with only a few lots left.
Homes in Tallgrass have a base price of about $425,000 but have averaged about $500,000 with upgrades. They are considered the company's high-end product, McEneely said.
She said buyers are looking for huge discounts in both existing and new homes.
"Value is really a matter of perception and that's dropped across the board," she said.