After earlier attempt, District 214 inks sale of Arlington Heights property for $5.55M
Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board members have at long last agreed to sell the property the district owns along South Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights to the developer that’s been scooping up sites along the corridor.
The board voted 5-2 Thursday night to accept Bradford Allen’s $5.55 million bid for the nearly 6.5-acre parcel at 2123 S. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.
The tally — just enough to clear a necessary two-thirds majority per state law — was one more vote than when the board rejected the developer’s $5.45 million bid last November.
The district paid $5.35 million for the site in November 2022, exercising a lease-to-purchase option, and temporarily relocated administrative offices to the two-story, 24,000-square-foot office building there during renovations to the Forest View Educational Center just a few blocks away.
Most school board members have favored unloading the property as they face upward of $900 million in renovation costs across the district’s six aging school buildings and a likely referendum to help pay for it.
“You have to look at that dollar amount that we’re looking at, which is astronomical,” said board President Alva Kreutzer. “I really feel that we need to show the public that we’re serious about this. We’re serious about saving money towards all these needs.”
As they did last year, Bill Dussling and Mark Hineman voted “no” on the sale, arguing the real estate is prime and its value may only increase amid redevelopment by Bradford Allen and others in the area.
“When you take a look at the fact that the Bears are rethinking what they are going to do with their location, possibly moving into the old racetrack site, in my mind that even increases the value of this property more than what it is,” Dussling said. “In my mind, I think we can afford to wait. … Bradford Allen — they aren’t rookies — they know what they’re doing. And they’re grabbing this property so that they can develop it in the future and even make more money off of it. Why shouldn’t we?”
While expressing frustration with the sealed bid mechanism that governs how school districts may sell property — barring them from directly negotiating with buyers to get a higher price — board member Joe Sagerer said it’s an opportunity cost to hold onto the land.
“We shouldn’t be investing in real estate if we have needs — and we do have needs — that will go directly to educating students,” he said.
Whether the property could increase in value if the district waits may not be the case since the parcel is within a tax increment financing district, noted Superintendent Scott Rowe.
Rowe, who spoke with Village Manager Randy Recklaus, said there’s more incentive for developers to spend early in the 23-year life of the TIF.
The special taxing area was established by Arlington Heights in 2020, in which property values were frozen at a base level and incremental property taxes generated above that started going to a village fund. Bradford Allen tapped that fund nearly a year ago, getting $17.8 million in incentives for its eight-story, 301-unit apartment building that quickly has taken shape on the southeast corner of Arlington Heights and Algonquin roads.
Across the street, Bradford Allen has the 4-acre former Yanni’s Greek Restaurant site under contract. And just north of District 214’s property, the developer paid $3.35 million for an 8-acre plot at Arlington Heights and Seegers roads, where an office complex was demolished in early 2024.
The developer now has a 120-day feasibility period to investigate the physical and environmental condition of the District 214 site, followed by a monthslong period to pursue any zoning approvals. A closing could be at least a year away.