There are few details surrounding a potential sale of publicly owned land at the Waukegan waterfront that the City Council considered at a special session Thursday night and chose to hold over to a future meeting.
Mayor Wayne Motley and the aldermen held a long executive session, closed to the public, to discuss an item on the agenda “to accept a letter of intent for the purchase of certain city-owned real estate.” When they emerged from the private session, which is allowed for discussions such as real estate proposals, the council chose to hold over the agenda item for a later meeting.
Corporation Counsel Steve Martin said it was being tabled so he could further discuss the proposed contract with the buyer.
Ald. Sam Cunningham, 1st, the city’s mayor-elect, confirmed afterward that the land purchase involves Waukegan’s Lake Michigan waterfront, which has been the subject of revitalization debates for years.
Cunningham said there were “some good things” involved with the deal “that we really like,” but the aldermen “need a little bit more time” to consider it.
Motley on Friday said the city has “someone who has shown interest in purchasing the lakefront” and that Waukegan officials “are vetting” the offer.
Cunningham provided a business card for a company called Waterfront Investment Properties Group, with offices in Northbrook and St. Petersburg, Fla. An attempt to reach principal Eddy A. Dingman with the company was unsuccessful.
Cunningham also gave contact information for Sheryl Fisher, a broker with Coldwell Banker Commercial, based in Northbrook. An attempt to reach Fisher was not immediately successful.
Earlier on Thursday, Ald. Ann Taylor, 9th, said the aldermen didn’t know any details about the deal before the special meeting.
“We haven’t been told anything about it,” Taylor said prior to the session.
Ald. David Villalobos, 4th, also said he hadn’t any prior knowledge of the deal before Thursday’s meeting.
The city could not immediately provide a description of all the property it owns at the waterfront, asking Friday that a Freedom of Information Act request be filed to access the information and advising such a request could likely not be fulfilled Friday.
The city owns several notable parcels. One is the 11-acre former Bombardier Recreational Products site immediately west of Waukegan Municipal Beach, where a vacant building was demolished following a close City Council vote last year.
Another is the 36-acre former North Shore Gas property immediately to the north of the BRP site. And there is property north of Municipal Beach that the city acquired in 2005, formerly home to Outboard Marine Corp.’s 1 million-square-foot facility and now an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup site.
The city also owns land south of Waukegan Harbor, part of which is included in the city’s plan to revitalize the South Sheridan neighborhood, said Ald. Lisa May, 7th.
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