Stritch does about-face on We Energies land

Cardinal Stritch University announced March 25 it no longer plans to purchase the approximately 85-acre We Energies land north of Howard Avenue and south of the archdiocesan Cousins Center property.

The university attributed the decision to being fiscally prudent in times of economic downturn and uncertainty.

But the change represents a 180-degree turn from the case made by Stritch to the city of St. Francis-and the public-since at least last October in its successful drive to secure favorable zoning for what it pitched as a 129-acre campus encompassing both properties. The university repeatedly argued since fall 2008 that in order to develop its proposed south campus on the Cousins Center property, Stritch needed to obtain the adjacent We Energies land for athletic fields and parking.

The March 25 announcement appeared to negate the validity of the all-or-nothing argument.

Negotiations for Stritch purchasing the Cousins Center continue, according to both Stritch and archdiocesan spokespersons.

“We still have confidence the deal will close,” said Julie Wolf, archdiocesan communications director. It’s just a matter of Cardinal Stritch looking elsewhere for athletic fields, Wolf said. “I’m told they’re looking sometime in June to close.”

Wolf said the current agreement between Stritch and the archdiocese coupled the properties together. “I understand there is a contingency in the contract that includes the purchase of the We Energies land. They [Cardinal Stritch] can still waive that contingency.” 

Brief History

Stritch first announced last July it had an executed offer to purchase the 44-acre Cousins Center property and 415,000-square-foot facility. The plan announced then was to develop a campus to house approximately 800 undergraduates.

By fall 2008, however, Stritch’s Tom VanHimbergen, special assistant to Stritch’s president and project point person, revealed that this plan was apparently contingent upon acquiring the We Energies land, a former fly ash pile for the old Lakeside power plant, adjacent to Seminary Woods.

We Energies spokesperson Brian Manthey said Stritch approached them about the land in summer 2008. “We were never marketing it,” Manthey said. “Cardinal Stritch approached us about the possibility of us selling that land to them. They had come to us.”

Stritch’s interest in developing the We Energies land sent shock waves through the local environmental community, which rallied to oppose the decoupling of what it perceived as a landscape contingent to the survival of Seminary Woods. They pointed to 2004 communication that suggested We Energies had set this contaminated land aside as undevelopable.

By November 2008, as Stritch proposed its preliminary concept plan to the city of St. Francis in order to obtain planned-unit development (PUD) zoning-which was to cover the entire 129-acre project area as a special case-it was clear Stritch envisioned a campus encompassing both properties.

Immediately following a Feb. 2 public hearing attended by over 400 people, the city of St. Francis Common Council unanimously granted Stritch PUD zoning based on their preliminary plan.

Stritch’s board of trustees met the day after the zoning approval and the day before the March 25 announcement, said Joanne Williams, Cardinal Stritch vice president for public relations and marketing.

Rethinking the Economics

Williams would not comment on what specific economic considerations-endowment performance?, anticipated enrollment?, ability to secure financing?-had triggered the board’s decision to forgo the We Energies land.

“You have to look at the whole fiscal picture of our economy,” said Williams, who confirmed the price for both properties had been about $9 million. She said she could not separate the price per property.

Manthey said Stritch’s agreement with We Energies had not been finalized-”not to a final dollar agreement.”

Of Stritch’s decision, Williams said, “It wasn’t a matter of We Energies changing the price.”

Stritch president Helen Sobehart said We Energies staff had been cooperative and the decision to connect the Cousins Center and We Energies land had been made prior to the severe economic downturn.

Williams said Stritch is now exploring alternative sites for athletic fields, but could not identify where, except to say in and beyond St. Francis.

Williams said cutting the campus proposal by two-thirds was just part of the process. “That’s what planning is,” Williams said. “Planning is making changes.”

Williams could not provide a timeline, but said the university hoped to complete its campus by 2019. “There’s no rush at this point.”

PUD Zoning Implications

Stritch has until Feb. 2, 2010, however, to secure approval of its actual development proposal by the city of St. Francis Planning Commission or its PUD zoning will lapse-unless extended in writing by the St. Francis Common Council.

How the apparently major change not to buy the We Energies land will affect the planning process remains unclear.

St. Francis approved the PUD for the entire area of both properties. A major rationale for the PUD zoning was the sheer scale of the proposed property acquisition.

Craig Vretenar, St. Francis building inspector and zoning administrator, clarified what may become an even more complicated situation:

“The PUD zoning encompasses the entire legal description [both Cousins Center and We Energies parcels]. The PUD zoning only allows for what was proposed and approved. The We Energies parcel cannot be developed into other than what was proposed until the zoning either lapses and reverts back to original R-3, in which case one- and two-family, restaurants, or medical offices can be built in the original zoning. Or a request for a change of zoning or new PUD can be applied for.”

So the We Energies property cannot be otherwise developed while the PUD is in effect, but campus plans to be submitted may no longer be consistent with what the PUD was approved for.

The St. Francis Planning Commission will have to determine if whatever specific plans Cardinal Stritch eventually comes forward with are substantially different from the plans approved for the PUD.

If any changes are considered major, then a new public hearing and PUD zoning approval process could be necessary.

Vretenar said he couldn’t say if or how Stritch’s announcement would affect their actual plans-speculating a scenario in which Stritch leased, rather than purchased, the We Energies property. “Nobody’s spoken to me about this,” Vretenar said March 27.

When a member of the public asked St. Francis Mayor Al Richards Feb. 2 if the properties could be considered separately, he said no and quipped that “you can’t cut the elephant in half.”

Future of the Land

Regarding the future of the We Energies land, Manthey said We Energies is not actively marketing the parcel, but is open to entertaining other options, including selling the property whole or piecemeal. “We’re leaving all the options open. We’re back to where we were before Cardinal Stritch.”

Kathy Mulvey, a member of a consortium of environmental groups meeting to preserve both Seminary Woods and the adjacent We Energies land, said she was “delighted” to hear Stritch no longer planned to buy the We Energies land.

But Mulvey said she hopes Stritch still comes to the Cousins Center and that the future could yet see what for her is the best of both worlds. “If Stritch is here but that land is still protected, that’s great.”