YMCA cancels deal to sell Rich Port site to ARP

The Greater La Grange YMCA has canceled its contract to sell the its vacant Rich Port property to developer Atlantic Realty Partners (ARP) and is exploring alternative scenarios for the 4.3-acre site, Christopher Ganschow, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan YMCA of Chicago, said today.

The announcement came as a surprise to ARP President Richard Aaronson, who acknowledged that his company's attempt to negotiate a reduced price for the property had not been well received. But he believed that talks were still ongoing.

"Technically, we are still in active negotiations with the YMCA and hope to reach a resolution," Aaronson said.

Ganschow, however, would not confirm Aaronson's position.

"We're looking at a number of options right now," he said. "We're open to ideas and suggestions as to where we go from here."

Ganschow said ARP's latest offer was not "substantial" enough toprovide the seed money the YMCA needs to acquire land and build a new facility in the La Grange area.

Aaronson said the price his company originally agreed to pay, which neither side would disclose, was no longer justifiable given his decision last month to reduce the size and scope of La Grange Place, the mixed-use redevelopment ARP planned to build on the Rich Port parcel and some adjoining land from Gordon Park that the developer has been trying to purchase from the Park District of La Grange for the past two years.

ARP's original plans for La Grange Place, approved two years ago by the village board of trustees, included 283 mid-rise apartment units, 23 townhomes and 33,000 square feet of retail space. It would have been the largest private development in La Grange history of the village, according to Patrick Benjamin, the village's director of community development.

The decision to scale down the development was announced in early November when Aaronson said his company would forego the purchase of one of two parcels of parkland it had hoped to include in the project.

Consequently, the townhomes were eliminated, along with 47 apartment units and nearly half the planned retail space.

Aaronson at the time said he hoped that his decision to purchase only .78 acres of the 2.82 acres it originally wanted would help settle a legal battle between the park district and a group of residents opposed to any sale of parkland for development. But he also acknowledged that deterioration of the real estate during the present economic decline made a smaller development for attractive to capital investors.

Three separate lawsuits have kept the sale tied up in court since Sept. 2007.

Ganschow said the lawsuits were not a major factor in the YMCA's decision to pull out of the deal.

No action on the matter had been taken by the YMCA board, Ganschow said.

"It was a decision made by the professional staff after consulting with officials from the La Grange YMCA," he said.

Comments

[WilliamDobias]

The YMCA threatened once before to pull out of the deal - last year to force the Park District to go to the referendum to sell the park land. Maybe they really do have another potential partner. In the meanwhile, it is high time that the Village made the YMCA tear down their derelict building.

It is interesting that Christopher Ganschow now cites concern that the proceeds from the ARP sale would not generate the "seed money" to build a new La Grange Area YMCA facility. When they originally announced the closing of the Ogden Ave. facility, the YMCA said that building a new La Grange YMCA would depend on the community's willingness to financially support a new building - that after La Grange area residents gave the YMCA the property and supported it financially for many years.

It is also interesting that Ganschow is now pulling the La Grange YMCA board back into the deliberations. Three years ago, the Metropolitan YMCA office pulled control of the project away from the La Grange YMCA and left them outside of negotiations.

[WilliamDobias]

In an interview with the News on La Grange, Christopher Ganschow was quoted as saying that the Metropolitan YMCA is considering bids from several local contractors to tear down the derelict building. Apparently the YMCA is getting ready to be good neighbors with the rest of the village.

[bert gordon's granddaughter]

does this development make the lawsuit(s) moot?

[WilliamDobias]

Judge Gillis made an interesting comment at the last court session. She said that the law does not anticipate that a Park District would already have a buyer for its land when it make a petition to sell land. It's conceivable that the Park District could continue to seek court approval to sell the land, and thereby keep the court action going until the judge rules. I hope they don't spend money doing that, but who knows?

[Bob]

The YMCA should have forfeited their 501(c)(3) tax exempt charitable status when they closed their SRO housing residence.
When they chose to focus their efforts as a state-of-the art membership fitness facility in direct competition with commercial, tax-paying fitness clubs, they forfeited the basis for their tax-exempt status.
The IRS has ruled that fitness clubs are ineligible for tax-exempt status.