2 Bids Made To Buy District 161's Shuttered Arbury Hills School

MOKENA, IL — A call for parties interested in buying the shuttered Summit Hill District 161 Arbury Hills School in Mokena generated two offers, Superintendent Dr. Paul McDermott confirmed.

Several months after Summit Hill District 161 officials voted to close both Arbury Hills and Frankfort Square School, board members last month approved the sale of one of the two buildings.

With a minimum asking price of $1.75 million, officials conducted the sale via sealed bids. Bids were due by June 7 at 4 p.m.; the bids were opened on June 10. Arbury Hills School was built in 1960. The property is 250,470 square feet; the school itself is 44,215 square feet.

Submitting their bids for the property were:

• Chicago Autism Academy, with a bid of $1,758,000.01, received on June 7 at 10:41 a.m.
• Prayer Center of Orland Park, with a bid of $1,900,000, received on June 7 at 3:30 p.m.

Frankfort-based Chicago Autism Academy is a private school for children with special needs, according to its website. The ISBE-approved facility is a fully accredited program for children with Autism Specturm Disorder (ASD), Cognitive Disability (CD), and other Developmental Disabilities (DD).

"We provide services which accommodate the individual needs of each student to promote maximum learning," the website reads. "A variety of empirically based procedures are used including, Behavior Analysis, Precision Teaching, Direct Instruction, and many other interventions."

The Prayer Center of Orland Park is an Islamic worship center, aiming "to worship God through serving people in all their spiritual, educational and social needs by developing and empowering our community on the values of faith, justice and equality." They strive "to be the center of Islamic enrichment and guidance for a prosperous and virtuous society."

Citing declining enrollment while voting to close the two schools, district officials late last year said it would either sell the properties or work with community partners to use the space rather than allow the buildings to sit empty. Parents were disappointed and enraged at what they called abrupt decision-making that lacked public input and proper planning.

Board president Jim Martin deflected criticism from the crowd during that Dec. 20 meeting, also consistently calling for decorum and threatening to have people removed.

"I don't want to close schools," he said. "... It's what we have to do."

After reviewing the bids June 10, McDermott said the board is consulting with the district's attorney to determine next steps.

He did not provide a date by which a decision will be reached or announced.