District 200 Slashes Hubble Sale Price in Half, Sets Auction Date

District 200 officials cut the minimum bid price of the former Hubble school property in half Monday after failing to receive any bids last week. The School Board passed a resolution to put the property for sale at a minimum price of $5 million, and to have a public auction at 2 p.m. May 16.

The board passed a resolution in February to sell the property in a sealed bid process for a minimum of $10 million, but did not received any bids by the time of the bid opening date April 14.

Rosemary Swanson, board vice president, said going for the first bid, “I think we needed to go with the advised minimum appraised value … Now we’re looking to see who we can attract.”

The board can reject any and all bids if they do not comply with the terms and conditions set by the new resolution.

Board member Ken Knicker said that the current appraised value was too “high,” so the board lowered the price to “encourage bidders to step forward.”

Board member Joann Coghill said that it’s hard to find buyers today—“and we don’t know about tomorrow, or next year … we should look seriously at who’s interested now.”

The terms require each bidder to pay $300,000 as earnest money at the time of the first bid. The unsuccessful bidders will retrieve their earnest money checks immediately after the close of the sale. District 200 will then have 10 days to accept or reject the bid and return the earnest money.

The successful bidder will be required to pay the balance of the sale price at the property’s closing date, which would be within 45 days after the buyer secures all necessary permits from DuPage County, the city of Wheaton and any other necessary governmental entities. The buyer has 180 days to secure these permits and approvals, and can request an extension at any time. The district will be be able to authorize a 120-day extension if the buyer “has demonstrated that it is making good faith, substantial progress toward obtaining such approvals and permits." 

The terms and conditions allow the seller—District 200—to, “consider the bid price, future property tax revenues and ‘new property’ equalized assessed valuation likely to be generated by the development of the real estate, and any other factors within its sole discretion in evaluating, and accepting or rejecting, the highest bid.”

Terms also require the buyer to “make a good faith effort” to work with the Wheaton Park District to incorporate public space uses and “to preserve or enhance existing athletic fields to the extent such uses are practical within the overall propose development scheme of the real estate.” The buyer is also prohibited from applying for or accepting tax increment financing funds.

The public auction will be held at the School Services Center, 130 Park Ave.