Geneva buys house for possible downtown parking expansion

Geneva bought a house Monday, as part of a 12-year-old plan to add parking in back of some businesses on Third Street.

The deal to buy the home at 215 Campbell St. was actually reached in 1997, for $152,500. The contract delayed closing until owner Frances Nottolini passed away. Mrs. Nottolini died Oct. 10. The contract requires a closing within 30 days of her death.

The $152,500 comes from a special tax applied to properties in central Geneva.

The property was bought to enable the city to build an inter-block parking area and vehicle pass-through between James and Campbell streets, allowing rear access to Third businesses in the popular commercial district. There are no plans in the current city budget to build such a lot.

Mrs. Nottolini had not lived in the house recently. It has been leased out, but the city is not sure to who or what. City attorney Charles Radovich is investigating, and suggested the city might want to continue leasing the property until it is ready to knock the house down. A law firm rented it at one time.

The brick, one-story house was built in 1930. A Geneva Township assessor's property record card indicates it was most recently assessed at $276,085.