Libertyville board approves sports complex sale; OKs plan to build 34 affordable senior housing units
The Libertyville Village Board voted in favor of a purchase and sale agreement to transfer the former Libertyville Sports Complex’s indoor facility to Canadian chain Canlan Sports, and approved a plan brought by the nonprofit Community Partners for Affordable Housing to build a 34-unit affordable housing complex and office space on Tuesday.
The agreement to sell the nearly 170,000-square-foot indoor facility to Canlan Sports — which also operates facilities in Barrington, Romeoville and West Dundee — comes toward the tail end of a two-year lease agreement struck in April 2021 that contained an option to buy the facility anytime during the lease for a gross sale price of $3.75 million.
Canlan has been operating the facility since it reopened after the COVID-19 shutdown in July of 2021, exercised the option on Dec. 8 and has been negotiating the agreement ever since.
Mayor Donna Johnson said the net sale proceeds are expected to be $3.125 million after established credits are factored in, and the sale is expected to close before the end of March.
Trustee Pete Garrity hailed the deal as a “great moment” for the board, which has been working to lessen the financial burden of the complex on the village in recent years.
“We’ve worked for this for many years, to get to this point,” Garrity said. “I think what all of us, I believe, are most proud of is we’ve been able to transition an asset that was a bit of a millstone in terms of the neck of the village — and from a cash flow standpoint, an expense standpoint — and we’ve transitioned that to the private sector, which is where it should have been.”
The board also greenlighted a final development plan from Community Partners for Affordable Housing to construct a new building featuring an office for the nonprofit on the first floor and 34 units of affordable, senior housing on the second and third floors.
Johnson and the trustees said availability of affordable housing for residents, particularly for Libertyville’s significant aging population, is a serious need the project will help to address.
“That senior housing is really a blessing in terms of our community,” Johnson said.
According to the nonprofit’s pitch to the village, the complex will mostly consist of one-bedroom units costing between $1,050 and $1,250 per month.
The project will replace a long-vacant building at 500 Peterson Road, though the village included a caveat that the building cannot be occupied until after the left-turn lane on Peterson Road has been constructed in accordance with Illinois Department of Transportation requirements, and is open to vehicles.
Trustee Matthew Hickey thanked Johnson for sending a letter supporting the nonprofit’s application to receive a tax credit to assist in the project’s funding, and said that about 40% of Libertyville renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
“That means they’re housing-cost burdened,” Hickey said. “These units are a start to how we’re going to look at addressing that problem. It’s fantastic that we have a nonprofit based here in Libertyville that is going to be able to stay here in Libertyville.”
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, landed $1.5 million in federal funding for the project after Congress approved his request in its 2023 Omnibus Funding Bill in December.
The building will also have a fitness room and a community room included on the 8,000-square foot first floor. Community Partners for Affordable Housing made presentations at multiple public hearings before Libertyville’s Plan Commission in 2022 to seek special use permits.
Trustee Dan Love added that he hopes Community Partners for Affordable Housing or other entities can build more affordable units in Libertyville because, “our community definitely needs it.”
According to its website, Community Partners for Affordable Housing has helped build or preserve more than 1,150 affordable rental units, in addition to landing more than $10 million in aid for first-time homeowners’ down payments and more than $2 million in direct rental assistance.
The board also approved a final plan from Lake County for its proposed 911 Regional Operations Center in Libertyville, which will house the Lake County Sheriff’s Office 911 consortium, the Lake County Emergency Management Agency, the Lake County Emergency Telephone Board and has a proposed solar array field to offset the building’s energy use.
Lake County Board District 15 member Jennifer Clark, who represents Libertyville, said in a public comment that the 38,000-square foot project, “is really going to be an asset for Lake County for years to come.”
“Libertyville is central to Lake County,” Trustee Scott Adams said, “and for the employees that will be at that facility, it’s easy for them to get to much easier than to have to go to Waukegan, if that facility was trying to be built in Waukegan.”
