Schaumburg approves 149-home subdivision on District 211 land
Schaumburg trustees Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to build 149 single-family homes on a vacant 62-acre site, the largest concentration of new homes in the village since the 1990s.
The vote also enables Nitti Development LLC to complete its pending $17.7 million purchase of the land from Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211.
The site 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.
District 211 acquired the land about 50 years ago for a sixth high school that ultimately wasn't needed.
In 2016, school district officials began discussing alternative uses of the site and soliciting ideas from the public as part of the process of forging a new strategic plan.
That process was completed in 2017 when the school board authorized the sale of the land after failing to identify any appropriate uses by he district itself.
By that time, the village had long identified single-family homes as the best use of the site in the absence of a high school.
Though some neighbors Tuesday decried the upcoming construction traffic and noise as well as the removal of many of the trees there, Trustee Marge Connelly said the long-term impacts will be much smaller than those of a high school.
"I think this will be an asset to your neighborhood and not a detriment," she said.
Three home developers originally bid on the site, and a contract was awarded in 2018 to Chicago-based M/I Homes for a $20.5 million purchase.
But in 2019, M/I Homes withdrew before its approval period had expired.
Nitti Homes, whose bid still exceeded the district's minimum price of $17 million, remained interested.
The District 211 board this June extended the period for Nitti Homes' approval to Sept. 22 and set a mandatory closing date of Oct. 15 for the sale.