City explores purchase agreement for Helen Baker building

The Glencoe City Council unanimously voted Tuesday, Sept. 5, to authorize Mayor Randy Wilson and City Administrator Mark Larson to execute a purchase agreement with the Glencoe-Silver Lake School (GSL) District to purchase the Helen Baker school site, as recommended by the Economic Development Commission (EDC).
It was further recommended and approved to authorize David Drown & Associates to prepare a redevelopment tax increment financing (TIF) district plan for the site, set a public hearing for the redevelopment TIF district on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., and authorize Larson to prepare an application for rezoning the Helen Baker site to be R-2 multi-family.
In this purchase agreement between the city and the school district, the city of Glencoe would purchase the nine acres of land from the GSL School District for $1 with the intent of selling the site for $1 to developer Glencoe Multi Family, LLC.
Glencoe Multi Family, LLC, submitted a formal proposal for the Helen Baker site, which the EDC committee went over earlier this summer.
Glencoe Multi Family intends to build a 97-unit apartment complex on the site as well as 10 single-family patio homes along 16th Street, at the southern end of the property.
The developer requested assistance from the city in acquiring the property from the school district and constructing a regional storm water pond. The total redevelopment cost is estimated to be $763,250 — it is proposed that the school district will contribute $300,000 with the city bonding for the remaining balance of $463,250.

For more about the proposal, see the Sept. 13 print edition of The Chronicle.