Sale of Harvard's former Motorola campus could go in new direction, court records show
The U.S. Marshals Service could entertain a new potential buyer of Harvard's 303-acre former Motorola campus after a Canada-based company breached its sale contract, court records show.
Green Data Real Estate Inc. hoped to secure the 1,527,857-square-foot property for use as a data center and business space that would be rented to tech-focused tenants.
The company, however, missed the final July 18 closing deadline. Less than a week later, the property was "offered for sale again to a qualified buyer," according to a report the U.S. Marshals Service filed in McHenry County court on Tuesday.
"While there were other offers made during this round, the USMS (U.S. Marshals Service) has determined that these offers are not currently acceptable for various reasons, including current market conditions," representatives with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and U.S. Department of Justice wrote in their Aug. 10 filing.
All previous bidders have been notified, according to the report.
City and county officials were unsure Thursday whether the marshals service intends to open a new round of bidding or if it will deal directly with previously interested buyers.
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice and marshals service could not be reached this week to clarify what the sale of the property will look like moving forward.
Reached by email Thursday, Green Data CEO Jason Bak said his company is "continuing to work on closing conditions for the acquisition."
Bak declined to comment further.
Of the nonrefundable payments that Green Data already put down on the property, $500,000 was deposited with the McHenry County treasurer's office on Aug. 6. That money will go toward the property's unpaid taxes.
The former Motorola campus is the largest taxpayer within the city of Harvard and Harvard School District 50.
The most recent owner, Xiao Hua "Edward" Gong purchased the space in April 2016 at an online auction for $9.3 million. Gong was arrested in Canada on fraud charges in 2018, however, and allowed property taxes on the campus to go delinquent in September 2017. Although he redeemed them later in the year, the taxes went delinquent again.
In the interim, mold and a defunct sprinkler system among other concerns have caused the property to deteriorate at a rate that city and county officials worry will soon reach beyond repair.
"It's so much more important to the community to just get a good user in there," McHenry County Administrator Pete Austin said.
Interested buyers have reached out to the marshals service and made appointments to tour the Harvard property this week, according to the Aug. 10 filing.
Additional clarification about the sale process could be disclosed at an Aug. 18 court hearing in McHenry County.