Official: Ex-Wheaton school site should be park facility

With commercial redevelopment of a former school in downtown Wheaton unlikely to happen anytime soon, a mayoral candidate is suggesting the property become a park district facility.

Councilman John Prendiville, who will challenge incumbent Michael Gresk for mayor in April 2011, said on his campaign website that “the highest and best use” for the old Hubble Middle School site would be to keep its gymnasiums and construct an indoor pool and “perhaps an indoor soccer field or two.”

“Such a facility would complement the existing gyms on the site and would mesh well with the residential neighborhood to the east and the open space to the west,” he wrote.

Prendiville's “recreation” proposal is one of two options the full city council is expected to consider next month, officials said.

The other is to encourage a developer to build a mixture of uses on the 22-acre parcel at Naperville and Roosevelt roads.

A steering committee has recommended the council review both options for the property, which is owned by Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200.

Steering committee member Rosemary Swanson, who also serves on the District 200 school board, said the plan that ultimately gets picked must meet a certain standard.

“It has to create a gateway to Wheaton that brings the highest value to the community, especially the downtown area,” Swanson said Monday. “Whatever we do with that property, we have to think big and aim high.”

When it came to the mixed-use proposal, panel members reviewed conceptual layouts that included everything from townhouses and condominiums to a grocery store.

Prendiville said the problem is that the housing market is still “years away from recovery” and developers are unable to secure financing “due to the vacant commercial properties already on the market.”

Gresk, however, says there is nothing wrong with waiting for the economy to improve.

“I think it's important that we stay focused on the original intent of this project,” Gresk said.

Part of that intent is for District 200 to sell the land to help pay down the highest interest bonds the district currently holds. Another goal is to get the site on the tax rolls.

“Would a park there be a suitable use? Of course it would,” Gresk said. “To turn the Hubble site into a nonrevenue producing piece of property would be an alternative. But I just don't see that as our first choice.”

In the meantime, Wheaton Park District officials acknowledge the district wouldn't want to lose access to the former school's gym space. Thanks to an arrangement with District 200, the park district has been using the gymnasiums and outdoor ball fields for sports programs.

Phillip Luetkehans, the park district's representative on the Hubble steering committee, said Prendiville's idea “has merit” and should be considered.