IDOT auctioning Lake County home in the shadow of 53 extension route

The Illinois Department of Transporation entered the Hawthorn Woods real estate market 15 years ago with the purchase of a comfortable home in a peaceful setting on Lisa Lane.

The state agency, best known for building roads, wasn't looking to buy. But because the home was in the path of a proposed Route 53 extension north from Lake-Cook Road, the homeowners were having a hard time selling.

"The property owners appealed to us," said Mike Cullian, realty specialist for IDOT. "Every time someone went to the village hall and started asking questions . . . that would kind of scare people off."

At the time, the area near 7 Lisa Lane was within an alternate path around a wetland, but that option was dropped a few years ago.

"That makes it what we call excess land," Cullian said.

The home has been vacant for about a year, and with what could be substantial repair and update work pending, IDOT considers it expendable.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, it will be offered at auction, as is, with a minimum bid of $395,000. On nearly 1.2 acres, the brick-and-frame home has four bedrooms, a three-car garage, a full basement, 2.5 baths and lots of oak trim.

Built in 1988, the 2,932-square-foot house, not including the unfinished basement, is roomy but a fairly typical residence that could be found on many suburban streets.

"It's a pretty nondescript home," Cullian said.

Though the house is no longer in the direct path, Route 53 - if ever built - still would be a neighbor.

"Selling is always going to be a problem," said Wally Valimohammad, who with his wife, Christine, has lived at the end of the street for 23 years.

Envisioned for decades, the Route 53 extension is a lightning rod issue that ebbs and flows in the public consciousness. Last April, about three-quarters of nearly 64,000 Lake County voters supported the extension in an advisory question.

Some political candidates lately have resurrected the Route 53 project as a rallying point for state or federal funding. Officially, the project, estimated at more than $1 billion, is dormant.

"I would say it's on hold. We're not actively studying it," said Pete Harmet, bureau chief of programming.

Still, Route 53 never seems to be completely out of the picture.

For IDOT, the Hawthorn Woods offering is unique, as most sales consist of slivers or irregularly shaped parcels of vacant land.

Cullian said it is only the fourth home auctioned in his 23 years with the agency, not including the two log cabins along Route 22 in Lincolnshire that were torn down a few years ago.

The land, at the corner of Lisa Lane and Mark Drive, boasts a variety of mature trees. The home is in decent shape but is starting to show its age.

The cedar shake roof is near the end of its useful life; the rear wooden deck (complete with Christmas lights) needs to be replaced; and the stucco-like material above the first floor brick is crumbling in spots.

Inside, the carpeting probably needs to go, and any prospective buyer not a fan of 1980s-era details and fixtures might want to consider changes.

"At 25 years old, the expenses are going to start to add up," Cullian said. "It's turned the corner. We have no need for it anymore."

Purchased for $350,000, IDOT has recouped a good chunk of its investment. The home has been rented for most of the time the agency has owned it, with the last tenant paying $2,400 a month.

But there have been some water issues in the basement, and the home has been vacant about a year. It is now easier to unload the property than find a good tenant, Cullian said.

The $395,000 minimum bid may not sound like a bargain in this real estate market, but IDOT has no choice, he added.

"We're bound by the appraised value," he said. "I was hoping it would come back even lower just to garner some interest."

IDOT held several open houses but attracted virtually no interest.

"Anyone who wants to take a look at it, we'll meet them out there," he said.

Lisa Lane is a short street that parallels Gilmer Road and ends in a cul-de-sac. IDOT planners in the early 1990s developed several alignment "jogs" away from the centerline of the Route 53 extension to avoid the high-quality wetland area that can be seen from all of the few homes on the street.

This western jog affected several properties in the immediate area, but 7 Lisa Lane was the only parcel purchased by IDOT, according to Harmet.

Road alignments can be planned without the agency owning property, and any early purchase is done on a case-by-case basis, he added.

If no bids are received, the home likely will be history.

"If it doesn't sell, what we'd probably do is tear the house down and sell the vacant lot," Cullian said.

That's of little consolation to the Valimohammads.

The wetland provides a serene view from their front yard at 1 Lisa Lane. But the eastern jog, which became the preferred route, is just beyond a row of mature pine trees the couple planted soon after moving in.

"It was announced 38 years ago that Route 53 was coming," Wally Valimohammad said. "When we bought (the home), nobody was talking about it. When I did find out, I put the trees in" to block the view, he said.

The couple has done a lot of research on the Route 53 extension and said they have come to expect an uproar on the subject every now and then.

A toll booth just beyond their pines also is in the plans, according to the Valimohammads.

"We'll hear (traffic) for sure," he said. "Hopefully, we are long dead before that happens."

Sale: There have been several open houses, but little interest

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