Stopping short of saying their struggle to gain control of the 51-acre property that once housed the Bethany Theological Seminary is over, leaders of the DuPage Bethany Village Coalition confirmed they soon will begin negotiations to take their counseling programs elsewhere.
The walls may be closing in on the organization and its dream of creating housing for seniors and troubled teens and an alternative school for young people on the unincorporated site at the northwest corner of Butterfield and Meyers Roads near Lombard.
Village officials said demolition of the buildings on the property could begin shortly. The Lombard Plan Commission voted to recommend the site be designated for a mix of residential and commercial buildings in a new draft of the Lombard comprehensive plan.
David Sweeney, the coalition’s executive director, said that even if the demolition plans somehow snag, his group could be forced to seek a new site to meet its goal of launching many of its programs by late next spring.
Without revealing the exact locations of the two DuPage County sites at the top of his wish list, Sweeney said the coalition is ready to begin negotiating either a short-term lease for an empty building or a purchase agreement for a vacant parcel.
“Providing for the special needs of the youth and seniors of this county is our highest priority,” Sweeney said. “To this point there has not been a conflict between that goal and our push for the Bethany property, but there could be in the next 90 to 120 days. If that conflict develops, the youth and seniors would win.”
The Plan Commission vote to recommend the Bethany property as a site for mixed-use development comes as the Lombard Village Board weighs annexation and development plans from Fountain Square of Lombard.
Fountain Square is a subsidiary of Chicago-based Shaw Co.
The development group is proposing a high-end residential and retail complex for the site along with possibly restaurant and hotel uses. Shortly after their vote on the comprehensive plan, members of the Plan Commission said they were excited about seeing such a complex in a “parklike setting.”
Commission Chairman Don Ryan said he would support a plan for varied property uses.
“It’s one of the finest sites in DuPage County and an opportunity for this community,” Ryan said. “And I think we can expect to see a lot of green there and a lot of open space.”
Sweeney has said the lights officially will go out on his group’s vision for the site if the structures on the property are razed.
