Downtown McHenry apartment proposals get early nod, but new idea on table for Landmark School

Two nascent proposals for downtown McHenry redevelopment have found enough support from the City Council to continue moving forward, and a new proposal for one of the properties is now on the table.

The McHenry City Council on Monday night heard concepts for redeveloping both Landmark School and the old First Midwest Bank into housing. City Administrator Suzanne Ostrovsky said during the discussion that the two groups needed feedback on the ideas, not hard decisions.

Any official, future proposal would go through the city’s staff and planning and zoning board - and in the case of the former school building, McHenry’s Landmark Commission - before going to the Council for a final vote, Ostrovsky said.

A separate new proposal for repurposing Landmark School into a nonprofit community center has also been brought forward, but not officially presented to the Council.

George Ieremciuc of Wauconda-based True North Properties said he plans to bid again on Landmark School to 131-year-old convert the building into apartments, which would need rezoning from McHenry. When McHenry School District 15 first put the structure up sale earlier this year, Ieremciuc bid $210,000. The School Board rejected his and another bid submitted then, indicating it did not want a sale that was contingent on the buyer’s ability to get city zoning changes.

The newest round of bids are due to District 15 by end of day Friday, with bid opening set for 11 a.m. Monday.

Ieremciuc’s idea calls for a maximum of 25 apartments in the school that closed permanently in June. He noted there are 50 parking spaces on site – more than the city’s ordinance mandates – and that he would leave doors and windows as-is.

First Ward Alderwoman Bobbi Baehne was one of five council members who threw their early support behind the plan, including Alderwoman Sue Miller, 7th Ward, who was not at the meeting but sent a letter in support.

″Our apartments in downtown are full. I think this is a great use for the school," Baehne said.

Alderpersons Andy Glab, 2nd Ward, and Chris Bassi, 4th Ward, both indicated they were not in favor of Ieremciuc’s proposal.

“The use ... needs to be preserved as well. It should become something that the public can take and find use for on the property,” Glab said, adding “residents would be upset for this icon to be an apartment complex.”

Bassi said she too did not think apartments were an appropriate use for the iconic school, noting the Council received an email suggesting a free community center at the site.

“That is what I support,” Bassi said.

That proposal, sent to the City Council by email Monday, came from McHenry residents Tom and Ginelle Popovich.

The Landmark School Community Center they’ve proposed would be ran by a nonprofit corporation and a board of “appointed civic-minded individuals,” Tom Popovich said.

“The idea is to encourage everyone and anyone with some ideas to help improve the lives of people here in McHenry County,” Popovich said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The Popovichs did not put a bid in for the school when it was first publicized in February.

“Honestly we didn’t know it was up for bid until we read in the Northwest Herald that the board had rejected the initial bids,” he said.

When deciding to close the school last year, District 15 officials quoted a price tag of $10 million to $12 million to bring Landmark up to modern standards.

“We have looked carefully at the building and carefully at the district’s reports,” Popovich said. " We are confident that we can handle any type of financial outlays that are necessary to maintain that building in perpetuity."

All financing to purchase the building would be put up by the Popovichs, and they would start an endowment for the nonprofit center.

“Over time, we would like to build up an endowment fund ... to continue long after my wife and I are gone,” Popovich said.

Similar support was voiced by the Council for Chicago-based developers EM8 Properties’ proposal for the bank building at 3510 W. Elm St., with Glab and Bassi as the two dissenting voices.

Partners Etamar Deshe and Michael Gallant are proposing a $10 million project that would bring 33 loft-style apartments to the two-story building they are calling The Vault @ McHenry.

The bank’s basement would be used for amenities including a workout center, possible storage, home office spaces and a kitchen area, architect Neal Gerdes said. The apartments could range from 550 to 2,100 square feet, he said, adding the existing parking on site is above what McHenry’s ordinance calls for.

Glab said he was “not too thrilled about adding more apartments” and called for condominium units instead.

“I like the lofts but am concerned about density,” Bassi said, asking if the developers would consider 20 units instead of 33.

“Nobody is going to do something with it for 20 units,” Deshe said.