Park Board OKs Land Swap in Hubble Deal

It took all of four minutes for the Wheaton Park District board to formally agree to exchange land parcels with the developer of the old Hubble school site.

During a special meeting held Wednesday night, the board approved a move to trade its Central Park property to Bradford Equities in exchange for land it owns at Main Street and Roosevelt Road. The swap is part of the larger proposal to redevelop the Hubble property.

Bradford Equities bought the property from the Wheaton school district last year with plans to build a Mariano's Fresh Market at Roosevelt and Naperville roads. The Wheaton City Council approved a development proposal in March.

Also in its part of the Hubble deal, the park district plans to purchase a portion of the Hubble building to preserve three gyms it uses for athletic programs.

Here's a recap of the journey to a new chapter for the Hubble property:

Bradford Equities, LLC is buying the old Hubble school site from Community Unit School District 200 and plans to redevelop the site to bring a Mariano's Fresh Market to the corner of Roosevelt and Naperville Roads. of $5,000,200 in June.

The Wheaton Park District is also in on the deal, with plans to buy part of the school building from Bradford (for $3 million), to hang on to the three gyms it uses for athletics year-round. Bradford will also donate a parcel of open space for athletic fields to the park district. The two will also swap Bradford's open space at the corner of Main Street and Roosevelt Road for the park district's Central Park property.

Bradford and the park district presented plans for the site to City Council Feb. 13, seeking approval of a planned unit development (PUD) to allow Bradford to move forward with the deal. However the hearing was continued to Feb. 27 to address city staff's .

The old Hubble school closed in 2009, when District 200 moved students to the new Hubble Middle School building in Warrenville (take a look at the complete Hubble timeline, courtesy of the District 200 website). The park district became the main user of the site, accommodating more than 90,000 user hours per year. From 2007-2010, the city formed the Hubble Steering Committee, which considered possible uses for the site. In February 2011, District 200 put the school on the market for $10 million to sell in a sealed bid process.

When the district received no bids by the bid opening date April 14, the price was reduced to $5 million. The Wheaton Park District made an offer of $2 million on the property in May, with a letter of intent with Bradford to bring Mariano's to the site. But the offer that worked was Bradford's, which had the same letter of intent, just a different buyer and higher price.