Apartments or community center for McHenry’s former Landmark School? Two new bids unsealed

McHenry Elementary School District 15 officials on Monday opened sealed bids from two potential buyers for Landmark School in downtown McHenry – one seeking to build apartments and the other hoping for a community center on the site.

The school board is expected to vote on the bids either Aug. 12 or 26, after staff has had a chance to vet both bid packages, said Jeff Schubert, District 15’s chief school business official.

It is the second time the district has put the school up for sale via a sealed bid process.

One of the bidders, Wauconda-based True North Properties, also bid for the school in March. The company, known for rehabbing old buildings into apartments, dropped its bid 90%, from $210,000 for the 131-year-old building to $21,000.

McHenry residents Tom and Ginelle Popovich bid $50,000 for the school, which closed its doors at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Tom Popovich said he was excited to hear their bid was higher. The Popoviches informed the McHenry City Council by email last week that they want to create a nonprofit organization, the Landmark School Community Center, at the building.

He’s getting positive input from others in McHenry since residents have learned of the idea, Popovich said.

“Since word of our bid has spread, I’ve been contacted by numerous local individuals telling me how excited they are by our proposal,” he said. “All kinds of people have been contacting me already with their own ideas with what could be done at the Landmark School Community Center to better the lives of local McHenry-ites, especially youth and underserved individuals.”

If the School Board approves their bid, the Popoviches will “start putting together a board of directors and preparing details to go along with this project” Popovich said, including creating a Facebook page to allow interested parties to follow along.

As for True North, the company reduced its bid after having an opportunity to look into what the Landmark would need to convert it into apartments, Nick Ieremcuic said Monday.

The school “would need substantial investment: up front for water service, sprinkler systems, water systems and interior demolition,” Ieremcuic said, adding that he and his father, George Ieremcuic, had not completely toured the school prior to the March bid.

The District 15 board first put the school up to sale by bid in February, with bid opening in March. Those bids – including $20,000 offered by Southfork Premier Properties LLC – were rejected by the board at the March 11 meeting. At issue, at least in the case of True North’s bid, was a contingency clause that would have nullified the sale if McHenry did not give the new owners a zoning change to convert the building, District officials said

True North appeared before the McHenry City Council earlier this month, looking for feedback on their concept to put apartments in the school.

The District 15 board voted in summer 2024 to close the school and its year-round class schedule, citing a $10 million to $12 million price tag to bring it up to modern standards. The school closed permanently in June.