Wheaton parks to offer $2 million for Hubble

Wheaton Park District will offer the school district $2 million for the old Hubble Middle School site Thursday morning, park officials announced Wednesday night. The offer will be tendered after an attorney review for some minor final tweaks, Executive Director Mike Benard said after a board meeting.

The announcement marks the first time the park district has publicly placed a monetary value on the property. Before Wednesday, the park district had said for months that it would offer “fair market value” for the 22-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Roosevelt and Naperville roads.

It remains to be seen if Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 will budge on a $5 million minimum bid requirement they placed on the site during an auction Monday that garnered no bids. By law, that $5 million minimum must be met if the school district deals with a private developer.

However, because they are both government entities, the park district and school district can negotiate a lower value.

The park district announced Monday that it had entered into a letter of intent that would sell a portion of the land to a private developer if the park district acquires the property. The developer would then bring in a Mariano’s Fresh Market grocery store.

Additionally, the park district would install a green space on the northeast corner of Roosevelt Road and Main Street that would serve as a gateway to downtown Wheaton.

Board President Ray Morrill said the offer should clear the way for the two entities to work out a deal.

“I think this will open up discussions between the school district and park district that I don’t think we have had in good faith,” he said.

The park district covets the property because, officials say, it provides more than 90,000 user hours among its ballfields and the building’s gymnasiums. The school district pledged early on that it would return the property on the tax rolls.

Despite aggressive overtures by the park district, the school district opened up a 60-day, sealed bid auction in February that received no bids. However, District 200 included in both auctions a requirement that a developer make a “good-faith effort” to work with the park district.