Park officials unsure of next step at Hubble

Wheaton Park District officials haven't decided whether to bid on the former Hubble Middle School site but say they remain cautiously optimistic they will be able to use portions of the property even if it's sold to a private developer.

However, they also say they have to face the possibility of losing the use of the gymnasiums on the 22.6-acre site, which Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 officials put on sale last week to the highest bidder.

Park district President Ray Morrill said the board discussed its options in closed session.

“We are still interested in securing the gyms and open space but we're not quite sure what our next step will be,” he said. “If we don't have the wherewithal to put in a bid, we would try to talk to the developers, but we have not made any final determination on that.”

On Wednesday, school officials set $10 million as the minimum bid for the site, which sits at the highly visible northwest corner of Naperville and Roosevelt roads.

The sealed-bid auction closes April 14. It comes after the school district rejected a request for a 60-day delay to give the park district time to work on a deal.

District 200 also refused to give the park district right of first refusal, which school officials said would have deterred others from bidding.

Since January 2010, the park district has used three gymnasiums in the building that once housed Hubble Middle School. Additionally, the park district has slated leagues and recreation programs on the site's 13 acres that are in a flood plain and can't be developed.

Park officials in 2008 told the school district that losing the Hubble site would pose no problems for them.

That view changed, though, when the park district gained exclusive use of the facilities last year and no longer had to compete with school programs.

Since then, Morrill said, the park district has been able to sponsor Hubble-specific programming, such as basketball tournaments, that draw as many as 30 area teams. Those most likely will be eliminated if the park district does not gain control of the site.

As it stands now, the park district remains at the mercy of the school district and occasionally has to cancel programs if the school district has scheduled events.

“We're the beggars using their facilities and there is not much else we can do about it,” Morrill said.

Morrill remains hopeful a park district plan released last month during an aggressive campaign to buy the site outright will still come to fruition. He said Central Park, which lies just west of the Hubble site, could give the park district an asset to throw in the mix.

“Will the school district work with us? No doubt in my mind they will be supportive because they always have been,” he said. “But will there be problems and things we can no longer do because of Hubble? Yes, that will be a problem.”

“At this point, we are waiting to see what happens,” he said. “We're disappointed they didn't give us an extension to try to work things out, but it is what it is and we'll make the best of it.”