Round Lake seeks new tenant for 'hospital' site

Round Lake officials must find a new buyer for land on the southwest corner of Route 120 and Wilson Road since Advocate Health Care has dropped the idea of building a hospital there.

It's a ripple effect of Oak Brook-based Advocate's merger with Condell Medical Center in Libertyville announced this week.

The village bought the 57 acres for $5.5 million before Advocate had expressed interest in a Round Lake hospital, Mayor Bill Gentes said.

It was a strategic purchase to prevent neighbor Volo from grabbing any more land on Route 120, and to dictate how the land is developed, Gentes said.

"We identified a bunch of parcels that we would like to have control over," he said. "The most important piece of property we could identify was that particular parcel of land because the village of Volo has been moving eastward very quickly with residential construction."

A few months after the village bought the land, Advocate pitched its proposal to build a 144-bed, $251 million hospital in Round Lake.

It would have brought a 300,000-square-foot facility to that site, including an advanced cardiac care program, a Level II trauma center, and intensive care, obstetric and surgical care units.

Gentes said the hospital would have generated jobs and provided much-needed health care for the area.

"It is very disappointing that Advocate went away," he said. "Nothing really works perfectly in this world, unfortunately."

The village's original intent was to turn the site into an industrial/business park or a commercial development.

"The original reason we bought it is still valid," Gentes said. "There's a need for that (business park) out here. The more jobs that we attract to the area, the better off we'll be."

Gentes said though the land is not for sale right now, officials will once again explore that possibility at the June 2 village board meeting.

The village also will look into refinancing the loan it took out through a bond issue to purchase the land. The first interest payment on that loan is due July 2009. The village would try to extend the repayment period.

The board meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Round Lake village hall, 442 N. Cedar Lake Road.