Developer Still Eyes Lyons Township High's Land

LA GRANGE, IL – A home builder is still interested in Lyons Township High School's land in Willow Springs, for which it offered $18.8 million nearly two years ago.

Recently, a public records request yielded the school's correspondence with Atlanta-based Pulte Group. The documents were posted Friday on the "Neighbors of Pleasantdale" Facebook page.

In January 2024, Pulte proposed to build 97 ranch homes and 96 townhomes on the school's 73 acres.

That was a year after Bridge Industrial offered $55 million, beating out another bidder. But the school board abandoned the idea of selling after much criticism over its secretive, rushed process.

In June, a Pulte executive emailed Brian Stachacz, the high school's top finance official.

"I've been continuing to check the school board meeting minutes and haven't seen anything recently on the 80 acres along 79th Street," said Fabian Fondriest, a land acquisition manager for Pulte. "Has this topic been tabled for the time being?"

Stachacz responded that the board had not held any further discussion on the property. He said he would let Fondriest know if the board did.

Fondriest also asked about the land in February.

"Do you know if there could be an opportunity to present another offer to the district?" he asked.

At the time, Stachacz said he had nothing new to report, other than a school committee looking at possible options.

Over the summer, the board has held closed sessions about the property. Under the state's open meetings law, members can only close the doors to discuss setting the price.

In 2022 and early 2023, the board broke the law by discussing far more than the price in closed sessions.

Upon the attorney general's prompting, the board released recordings showing members strategizing to keep their desire to sell a secret for as long as possible.

The closed meetings were the result of Bridge's initial offer of $65 million, which appeared to incorrectly include acres that the school did not own.

The board plans to discuss the land during an open meeting that starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the school.

Patch left a message for comment with Fondriest early Monday morning.