Looking for land: Elgin U-46 interested in two sites for potential schools

Elgin Area School District U-46 officials are eyeing two Elgin properties as potential school sites.

School board members Monday night approved issuing two nonbinding letters of intent to purchase about 5.4 to 5.9 acres at the old Sherman Hospital site, 901 Center St., and 12.4 acres of undeveloped land at 2604 Rohrrsen Road adjacent to Hilltop Elementary School.

In April, voters approved a U-46 request to borrow $179 million to help rebuild five elementary schools, two of which date back to the 1800s.

The letters of intent are not offers to buy. Rather, they indicate an interest in the land and allow up to 120 days for the district to inspect the property to determine if it will meet its needs. In May, the district approved a letter of intent for the entire former Sherman Hospital site, totaling 14 acres.

On Monday, district officials said the second letter of intent for the Sherman property focused on a subdivided parcel totaling 5.4 to 5.9 acres south of Slade Avenue that includes two large parking lots.

The hospital property is near McKinley Elementary School, one of the two schools that date back to the 1800s and is targeted for a rebuild. The property also is near two middle schools that school board President Sue Kerr has said are "very limited on land."

The district is in the process of switching to full middle schools. Currently, sixth-graders are at the elementary schools, while seventh- and eighth-graders are in the middle schools. The district eventually plans to move all sixth-graders to the middle schools.

The Rohrrsen Road property is not on a busy road, district officials said.