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District 211 may delay sale of Schaumburg land to home developer

Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board members Thursday will consider a three-month extension to their pending sale of 62 vacant acres in Schaumburg to a home developer.

Nitti Development LLC of Glendale Heights is asking for the extension for its contracted $17.7 million purchase of the undeveloped site, as it continues to seek Schaumburg officials' approval for a proposed single-family home development.

The land, bought by District 211 about 50 years ago for a future school that was never built, is bordered by Summit Drive to the west, Plum Grove Road to the east, Wise Road to the south and existing houses extending from Weathersfield Way to the north.

Nitti Development became the potential developer of the site in May, after previously losing out on the site through a bidding process in early 2018.

M/I Homes of Chicago's top bid of $20.5 million was approved by the school board in March 2018, but the developer dropped out of the sale on April 30, 2019, the final day of its contractual approval period.

Second-highest bidder Pulte Home Co. LLC of Schaumburg had offered $20.1 million in 2018, but it indicated it could no longer honor that bid after M/I Homes dropped out.

All three bids exceeded the district's minimum of $17 million.

Both village and school district officials Wednesday said they regard Nitti Development's request for an extension to June 15 as necessary to get its proposal fully reviewed in Schaumburg.

The revised agreement sets June 30 as the mandatory closing date on the sale.

Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said the village received a revised proposal from Nitti relatively recently and that the developer's latest meeting with village staff members was only two weeks ago.

Fitzgerald said she could not disclose the number of homes in Nitti's latest proposal, or the village staff's response to it.

Under the anticipated time frame, the proposal would reach the village board for consideration of final approval in June, Fitzgerald said.

She said she does not believe the extension request is the result of any coronavirus-related delays, as it was being discussed even before current social restrictions were in place.

District 211 officials agreed with that assessment. Though M/I Homes had also asked for and received an extension before dropping out of its contract, its proposal never got as far in the village's review process as Nitti Development's now has, the district said.

"We are confident that Nitti has the concentrated resources to fulfill the deal," District 211 administrators said in a statement Wednesday.

Representatives of Nitti Development did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

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