Panel to help determine Hubble School site's future

A group of elected officials, business leaders and residents will play a key role in the planned redevelopment of the Hubble Middle School property in downtown Wheaton.

On Monday night, the city council agreed to form a steering committee to work with real estate consultants trying to determine the best future use for the 22-acre parcel at Naperville and Roosevelt roads.

Exactly who will serve on the 13-member committee is yet to be decided. However, it will include representatives from the city, park district and Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200. Residents, business leaders and a member of the city's plan commission also will be asked to serve on the panel.

Once formed, the committee will meet every one or two months to get updates from S.B. Friedman and Co., the Chicago-based consulting firm the city hired for the Hubble project.

Wheaton City Manager Don Rose said the committee's role will be significant because of the importance of the Hubble project.

"It's the entryway into the downtown," Rose said of the property, adding that whatever goes there "needs to be a statement development that leads people into the downtown."

Friedman could take two years to create a redevelopment plan for the Hubble site before a developer is selected. The steering committee will be involved in recommending a preferred concept plan, officials said.

According to the most recent appraisal of the Hubble site, the land has an estimated value of $22 million.

The property won't become available for redevelopment until August 2009. That's when the new Hubble Middle School in Warrenville is scheduled to be complete. The new Hubble building is being constructed along Herrick Road between Butterfield and Warrenville roads.

According to the consultants' timeline, a developer for the Hubble site in Wheaton will be hired by the city in early 2011, officials estimate. In the meantime, Friedman is conducting an extensive engineering analysis of property, primarily focusing on the location's flooding and draining issues.

As for the steering committee members, they are expected to have their first meeting with the consultants in late next month or in early March.