Court approves sale of Gordon Park parcels

UPDATED – Oct. 12, 2:55 a.m.

After a three-year legal battle, the Park District of La Grange Friday finally got its first victory in Cook County Court when Judge Susan Fox Gillis approved the district's latest petition to sell two parcels—2.82 acres in total—from the northwest corner of Gordon Park.

"We are very pleased with the ruling," Rob Bush, attorney for the Park District said after it was delivered by Gillis shortly before 5 p.m., at the end of a four-day trial.

"I think this will benefit all the citizens of La Grange," Brad Belcaster, park board vice president, said.

Board President Mary Ellen Penicook smiled amid a flurry of hugs and handshakes, but declined a request for comment.

The decision was a blow for the La Grange Friends of the Park, a group of some 20 residents who formally opposed the sale in court. A handful of its members, including former park commissioner Kevin Shields, were on hand for the ruling.

"I feel like there has been a death," Shields, an outspoken critic of the sale since it was first announced in the summer of 2007, said of the ruling.

Also present was Orlando Coryell, another La Grange resident who successfully blocked the Park District's initial sale petition, filed in Sept. 2007 and dismissed in June 2008, also by Gillis.

Tom Beyer, one of three attorneys representing the Friends, said they likely would file a motion for reconsideration within the next 30 days and, depending on its outcome, decide whether to appeal Friday's ruling.

Gillis, who was a strong advocate for settlement talks held one year ago in hopes of reaching an agreement that would allow both parties to emerge with a partial victory, came down Friday firmly in support of an amended petition filed last month by the Park District.

Under terms outlined in her ruling, the Park District can sell the parcels for cash equal to or exceeding $2.985 million, or 100 percent of the average of the three appraisals conducted at any time within 18 months of the date of a sales contract.

The land can be sold to anyone, and there apparently is no time limit on disposing of the property.

The $2.985 million figure was the amount agreed upon in a purchase proposal made to the Park District in 2009 by Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP), according to testimony presented in court Tuesday by Belcaster and ARP President Richard Aaronson. The Atlanta-based developer originally agreed in 2007 to pay $4.5 million in cash and as much as $2 million in services, providing and contouring landfill for a renovation of the remaining 14 acres of Gordon Park. The developer cited a deteriorating economy and real estate market as the reason for reducing its offer.

Outside the courtroom following his testimony, Aaronson said he was still interested in purchasing the park parcels if the terms and conditions were right.

Until fall of 2009, ARP also had a contract to purchase to the former YMCA Rich Port site, adjacent to the Gordon Park parcels. The developer had plans, approved by the Village of La Grange, to build a major residential and commercial project on the combined parcels, known as La Grange Place.

But when Aaronson attempted to renegotiate the purchase price, again to reflect the decline in real estate values, YMCA officials withdrew, saying the reduced amount offered was insufficient to allow them to purchase property elsewhere for a new facility. The vacant Rich Port facility subsequently was demolished this past summer at a cost to the YMCA of $600,000.

As of Monday afternoon, a YMCA spokesman had not responded to a request for comment on Friday's ruling.

The Park District said it intends to use most of any proceeds it receives from the sale to pay for a major renovation of ball fields and other recreational facilities on the remaining 14 acres of Gordon Park. The renovation plan factored greatly in Gillis' decision. At least $500,000 would be spent to replenish the district's capital reserves.

But the judge's ruling imposes no restrictions on how the money is spent.