Time to restore 119-year-old Hoffman Estates farmhouse will be up June 3

Hoffman Estates officials Monday decided to give the would-be restorer of the 119-year-old Bergman family farmhouse until June 3 to demonstrate real intent to pursue the long-delayed project or they will end the three-party agreement allowing it.

While no clear-cut criteria were given on how to demonstrate such intent within three weeks, it was strongly suggested that funding the required escrow account guaranteeing the financial resources to complete the project and picking up the approved building permit would be a start.

When the agreement was reached with CASE Properties LLC through its manager Chad Evans in June 2017, the developer was required to submit a cost estimate for restoring the farmhouse, which is near the northwest corner of Algonquin and Ela roads, and establish an escrow fund of 110 percent of that amount.

Last September, the village board set a deadline of Aug. 31, 2019, for the project to be completed. But with 3½ months remaining, work hasn't even begun.

Under the agreement, its dissolution would result in the house's demolition. The land it sits on would be deeded to the Hoffman Estates Park District.

That land lies at the edge of the 37-acre, 81-home Bergman Pointe subdivision being completed by developer M/I Homes, which is eager to learn the final plan for the farmhouse, Hoffman Estates Director of Planning, Zoning and Code Enforcement Peter Gugliotta said.

M/I Homes, which builds new houses, was not interested in restoring the old farmhouse itself but didn't object to another party's doing so if the project could be completed within a reasonable time. The subdivision was approved in November 2014, and village efforts to find an investor to save the farmhouse have been going on ever since.

"This is it," Mayor Bill McLeod said Monday. "I think everyone's patience is just exasperated."