Last chance for 118-year-old Hoffman Estates farmhouse

Hoffman Estates village board members Monday grudgingly agreed to one final extension for a private builder who last year responded to the village's search for someone to restore the 118-year-old Bergman family farmhouse.

Officials' frustration partly stems from how long it took to find CASE Properties LLC for the renovation project in the first place, and partly because no significant work has been completed since a June 2017 agreement.

"My concern was another winter without the house being secured," Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod said. "I don't know how much more of a beating it can take, to be blunt about it."

Under the revised agreement, CASE Properties now has until Aug. 31, 2019, to complete renovations to the old farmhouse at the northwest corner of Algonquin and Ela roads. The work to prepare it for winter will occur next month, according to the agreement.

Village officials never accepted any financial stake in the preservation of the Bergman house, but felt it had sufficient historic value to hold back its demolition long enough to see if anyone else would. M/I Homes, which built the new subdivision surrounding the house on three sides, had no interest in restoring the old farmhouse, but didn't object to it.

Some board members Monday voiced a degree of regret in even going down this road, with Trustee Karen Mills proposing the extension to next August be absolutely the last. Most agreed, while Trustee Gary Pilafas voted against even this extension.

If the house isn't restored, it will be demolished and the land deeded to the Hoffman Estates Park District.