District 219 Buys Building Next To Niles Central For $395,000

SKOKIE, IL — The Niles Township High School District 219 board agreed to spend nearly $400,000 to purchase an office building on a 0.35-acre piece of property adjacent to the district's administrative offices and Niles West High School. The sale was approved earlier this month after the 4,154-square-foot, one-story structure at 7720 Gross Point Road was listed in January.

Administrators decided the property could be used for additional office space. Alternately, storage areas of the administration center could be turned into office space and the new site could be used for storage, according to a memo to the board from Assistant Superintendent for Business Eric Trimberger.

The building was put up for sale Jan. 24 with an asking price of $415,500. A broker for the district submitted a letter of intent to purchase the property on March 7. The board voted 5-0 with one abstention in favor of purchasing the property for $395,000 at its March 12 meeting.

Board member Richard Evonitz, who abstained from the vote, asked administrators whether the district had established any budget for the acquisition of property.

"The situation is looked at on a case-by-case budget in each individual budget year. This property was not for sale at the time the current budget was adopted. However, when property that is contiguous to Niles West and the district office did come on the market, we felt that the board should certainly consider that," Trimberger said, noting there was an established property budget for the district's Bridges program and a new transportation terminal.

"I'd welcome an understanding of the district's philosophy on what it is we seek to acquire in terms of real estate, what our expectations are in terms of cost, so that we as a board have an understanding of what the district's goals and objectives are related to real estate," Evonitz said.

Board member Linda Lampert said concerns raised by Evonitz, a former board president of the East Prairie School District 73 Board, were very thoughtful.

"I also think if you could go back a few years to your past position wouldn't you have liked it to be able to purchase extra land?" Lampert asked. "And I think this board, especially knowing that we're landlocked at one of our sites, if something becomes available like that it's very hard to resist."

Evonitz said he understood the appeal in this case but would welcome a greater understanding of the district's real estate strategy.

"We're in a very highly urbanized environment, real estate's a premium. But you speak of my past experience, and from that experience, that involved an effort of reaching out to a community, explaining to that community what our goals and objectives were, getting them to vote on it," he said. "I know it's not exactly apples to apples here because we have certainly much more tremendous financial resources, but I think as stewards of those resources we need to be mindful of them and I would welcome a framework, and I believe there is one."

Board President David Ko recommended the issue be considered by the board's finance committee.

"We are always mindful of our fiscal responsibility and how we use the funds that we have in this district," Ko said. "I totally understand where you're coming from, because we would like to have more oversight on that to see what our goals [are] and where we want to be in the future as we keep moving forward."

The building's seller was Roy Belluomini, identified as the principal in the electrical contracting company listed as its primary tenant, according to public records and the property's listing.

According to the Cook County Assessor's Office, the property's estimated market value for taxing purposes was nearly $800,000. Its owner successfully lowered its assessed value in appeal in each of the past five years.

Administrators are exploring the expansion and reconfiguration of space at Niles Central, the district's special needs program that shares the administration building at 7700 Gross Point Road, district spokesperson Jim Szczepaniak told Pioneer Press. The additional space may also help reconfigure the loading dock at the district's existing property, he said.