Arbury Hills School For Sale, D161 Wants $1.75 Million For It

MOKENA, IL — Several months after Summit Hill District 161 officials voted to close both Arbury Hills and Frankfort Square School, one of the two buildings is for sale.

District officials last week approved a resolution authorizing the sale of Arbury Hills, 19651 Beechnut Dr. Officials are conducting the sale via sealed bids, and seeking a minimum of $1.75 million.

Arbury Hills School was built in 1960. The property is 250,470 square feet; the school itself is 44,215 square feet. The school's latest addition was in 2000, giving the building a capacity of 456 students, according to district documents.

Citing declining enrollment while voting to close the two schools, district officials said it would either sell the property 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."

Parties interested in buying the property must submit a sealed bid including a cashier's check or bank check for $10,000, which will be returned if the bid is not accepted, officials said in the public notice. Bids are due by June 7 at 4 p.m., and should be sent or delivered to the Office of the Superintendent, 20100 S. Spruce Drive in Frankfort.

The bids will be opened June 10 at 10 a.m., in the public meeting room also at 20100 S. Spruce Drive. Bidders do not need to be present and will be contacted after the bid opening.