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efforts to reach non-educational buyers.
"We've probably exhausted schools and are looking at reuse," DeSantis said.
SLU Property Manager Michael Lucido agreed.
"At this point, we have four different parties who are interested in the former Parks College property," Lucido said. "And
there is only one party in particular that I would say is interested in it for educational purposes."
Lucido emphasized "educational purposes" as opposed to use as an actual educational institution. The other three interested
parties, he said, are considering the property for "various uses."
The former Parks property includes 23 buildings totaling 295,000 square feet.
Located seven minutes from downtown St. Louis, within the village of Cahokia in St. Clair County, the property sits
one-half mile east of Illinois Route 3 and two miles southeast of Interstates 64, 55 and 70. Included are former classroom
buildings, a dining hall, dormitories, a student center, the Lindbergh Library and a gymnasium.
"The university's primary goal is to sell the property," Lucido said. "The price that has always been listed for this
property is $8 million, and I can confirm that our $8 million asking price is within its appraised value. When appraised for
its highest and best use, it is within that."
According to the St. Clair County Tax Assessor's Office, the entire 113 acres - comprised of six parcels, the largest of
which measures 92 acres - has a fair market value of $1.459 million, based on the county's year 2003 assessment.
And that's where the perceived versus actual market value - and the perspectives of the property's seller and its potential
buyers - continue to differ.
Lucido said Biondi and Lindenwood University President Dennis Spellmann came to an agreed-upon price of $6 million for the
former Parks College property about two and one-half years ago, but that Spellmann did not follow through on the deal.
"Dr. Spellmann said he could not follow through on the deal because he was unable to secure necessary Illinois grant
funding for the (Illinois) students," Lucido said.
Spellmann said that was not what occurred.
"The truth is that we offered SLU $6 million subject to their leaving the furniture there (at Parks)," Spellmann said. "The
truth is that back a few years ago, it (Parks) was fully furnished and St. Louis University had done a better job of keeping
it maintained. I told Father Biondi, 'I'll pay you that ($6 million), provided we do an inspection of what's there, subject to
Illinois grant approval." They never agreed to that. They never said yes. And in the meantime, Belleville was opening up and
we moved in that direction."
Moving eastward to Belleville rather than to Cahokia, in August of 2003 Lindenwood opened its first Illinois campus in the
former Belleville West High School through a public-private partnership with the city of Belleville and Belleville Community
School District 201. The multi-building campus totals 360,000 square feet of instructional space.
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"It wasn't a choice of Cahokia or Belleville," Spellmann said. "I wanted to do both. I ultimately want to have three or
four sites in Southwestern Illinois. Reaching out to local communities and partnering with businesses and other schools is our
mission, both in Illinois and on our main (St. Charles) campus."
Spellmann said he would be willing to reconsider the former Parks College facility for one of his future Illinois-based
sites, but that age and some deterioration of the Parks property would lead him to offer less money than what he did a few
years back.
The Illinois Board of Higher Education's decision some 18 months ago to cancel student grant monies for the Parks site due
to its standing vacant for five years, he said, doomed Parks College. Spellmann said prior to cancellation of the $4,000
per-student grant funding, the Parks site still carried the incentive for educational reuse.
"I was hoping to buy the Parks College grant corporation, too," he said. "That bureaucratic decision didn't and doesn't
help encourage a level playing field and the educational reuse of this facility. Money ought to follow the school, not the
student."
Cahokia Mayor Frank Bergman is also disappointed that Lindenwood and SLU could not come to terms on the property's destiny.
"We're making great strides in positioning Cahokia as a place where businesses will want to locate," said Bergman, who took
office in May, 2003. "We realize that economic development is fiercely competitive, and that we're competing against 20 other
Southwestern Illinois communities alone for new development."
The mayor said it is difficult to see the former Parks College property stand vacant.
"We'd like to see it generate revenue," he said, "and we're open to public-private redevelopment partnerships as well. If
the sale is narrowed to only educational entities, does that mean Cahokia will wait 10 years, 35 years or more until SIUE or
Lindenwood University comes along? We're sitting here on 113 acres of prime land that can be used for any number of types of
planned development."
Lucido said SLU has no plans at this time to move any programs or university departments back to Cahokia.
"Parks College is a resource that ought to be used for the benefit of the people of Illinois," Spellmann said. "It just
looks like a wasted opportunity there. Cahokia is a community with a lot of good people. When your mission as a university is
about reaching out and helping people, at what point do you stop that?"
president/ceo: Kerry Smith
email: ksmith@ibjonline.com
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