District 186 school board votes to buy 41-acre tract, will be home to new elementary school

The District 186 board of education agreed Monday to purchase a tract of land off 11th and Stevenson that will be the home of a new elementary school.

The purchase price of $1.6 million includes 41 acres of land, most of which is undeveloped, on the eastern and southeastern end of the former Allis-Chalmers and Fiat-Allis property. The price also includes a building that was once H.D. Smith Co.'s corporate office.

The contract was approved by a 5-2 vote.

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Money to buy the property will come from generated sales tax revenue, said Rachel Dyas, a spokeswoman for the district.

The land has been through numerous levels of remediation over the past several years. Fiat-Allis closed up shop in 1985.

But Micah Miller, one of the two "no" votes with Buffy Lael-Wolf, said the land was treated as a dumping ground --"lots of petroleum, lots of solvents"-- before Environmental Protection Agency regulations went into place and he was left "with a whole lot of concern about (the) location."

What's next for the district

Daniel Hamilton, an attorney at Brown, Hay & Stephens, said the contract includes a 90-day window that will allow the district to do its own due diligence. That may include an inspection of the building, other environmental inspections, and other contingency investigations.

The purchase price does not include any additional environmental testing or investigations the district may want to do.

Hamilton said the district can expect a "No Further Remediation"(NFR) letter in January from the IEPA. That means that the site has been evaluated, the process has been followed and IEPA has approved the site, he said.

Without the NFR letter, said Superintendent Jennifer Gill, the deal is null and void.

New elementary school

As part of Our Schools Our Future, the district's 2017 facilities master plan, Hazel Dell and Laketown elementary schools were already part of a consolidation.

Southern View was folded into the plan by a vote of the board in May. It is believed to be the first time three schools in the district have been part of one consolidation.

Attendance at all three schools had been falling.

The 11th Street site now is most likely where the state-of-the-art school will be built.

Gill wouldn't commit to a timeline Monday but said the start of the 2024-25 school year is probably the earliest it would be open.

Building costs for the school will run from $26 million to $36 million, Dyas said.

Administrative center

The former headquarters of the pharmaceutical wholesaler could bring a number of district offices together under one roof, including the business, payroll, special education offices, and technology staff.

Currently, the offices are located in buildings spread all over the city, Gill said. The building, she added, is "walk-in" ready down to internet wiring.

The move could be completed by the summer of 2023 or the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, Gill said.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield District 186 board OKs land purchase for school, offices