Post by bborbust on May 14, 2008 7:09:08 GMT -5
Brach trust wants $2.2M from D204
Brodie seeks $12 million
May 14, 2008
By Jennifer Golz jgolz@scn1.com
WHEATON -- The Brach trust says Indian Prairie School District 204 owes it $2.2 million plus damages for its portion of the property the district abandoned for a third high school.
Included in the total is about $1.5 million in attorney fees, $76,212 for document preparation and $24,750 for the Springfield lobbying firm hired to oppose the district's quick-take bill. That legislation would have allowed the school district to take immediate possession of the 55-acre parcel, at 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora, at a price to be set later by a jury.
The site is adjacent to 25-acres the district already owns that would have made for an 80-acre campus for the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School district officials hoped to open in fall 2009.
But the quick-take measure was denied, and the district abandoned its plans for the land after a jury priced the Brach-Brodie site at $31 million - more than twice what school district officials had originally budgeted.
Last month the Brodie trust filed suit seeking a judge's order to require the district to purchase the land. If that fails, Brodie trust attorney Steve Helm said he intends to seek $12 million in damages for his client's share of the land.
While about $3 million of that represents attorney fees and witness costs associated with the condemnation case, the remaining is what Helm feels is compensation in price for what the land could have sold for in 2005, when the suit was filed, compared to today's real estate market.
Absent from Tuesday's court appearance, the Brodie trust has until May 27 to file its estimated damages.
All parties will return to court June 10, when a hearing date will be set for arguments on the damages being sought.
However, attorneys are working against the clock to get that hearing date before the month ends, as Circuit Court Judge Robert Kilander is set to retire from the bench in July. Kilander presided over pretrial motions, hearings and the jury trial last year in which the land price was set.
Rick Petesch, attorney for District 204, said it would be beneficial for all parties to continue the case in front of Kilander.
"He knows the history, and he knows the work the attorneys have put forth," he said.
Brodie seeks $12 million
May 14, 2008
By Jennifer Golz jgolz@scn1.com
WHEATON -- The Brach trust says Indian Prairie School District 204 owes it $2.2 million plus damages for its portion of the property the district abandoned for a third high school.
Included in the total is about $1.5 million in attorney fees, $76,212 for document preparation and $24,750 for the Springfield lobbying firm hired to oppose the district's quick-take bill. That legislation would have allowed the school district to take immediate possession of the 55-acre parcel, at 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora, at a price to be set later by a jury.
The site is adjacent to 25-acres the district already owns that would have made for an 80-acre campus for the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School district officials hoped to open in fall 2009.
But the quick-take measure was denied, and the district abandoned its plans for the land after a jury priced the Brach-Brodie site at $31 million - more than twice what school district officials had originally budgeted.
Last month the Brodie trust filed suit seeking a judge's order to require the district to purchase the land. If that fails, Brodie trust attorney Steve Helm said he intends to seek $12 million in damages for his client's share of the land.
While about $3 million of that represents attorney fees and witness costs associated with the condemnation case, the remaining is what Helm feels is compensation in price for what the land could have sold for in 2005, when the suit was filed, compared to today's real estate market.
Absent from Tuesday's court appearance, the Brodie trust has until May 27 to file its estimated damages.
All parties will return to court June 10, when a hearing date will be set for arguments on the damages being sought.
However, attorneys are working against the clock to get that hearing date before the month ends, as Circuit Court Judge Robert Kilander is set to retire from the bench in July. Kilander presided over pretrial motions, hearings and the jury trial last year in which the land price was set.
Rick Petesch, attorney for District 204, said it would be beneficial for all parties to continue the case in front of Kilander.
"He knows the history, and he knows the work the attorneys have put forth," he said.