Cousins Center property back on the market

Cardinal Stritch University’s ambitious plans to build a satellite campus in St. Francis have fallen through. Stritch announced at the end of April it was pulling out of plans to acquire the 44-acre archdiocesan Cousins Center property in St. Francis, which includes a portion of Seminary Woods. The university publicly attributed the decision to the economy.

This announcement came on the heels of a March 25 announcement that Stritch was no longer seeking to acquire the adjacent We Energies property for athletic fields but that it remained committed to the Cousins Center. 

The April announcement surprised and disappointed the archdiocese, said archdiocesan communications director Julie Wolf, which she said learned about the decision the same day Stritch went public.

Stritch’s offer to buy the Cousins Center officially expired April 30, putting that property back on the market. James Barry and Bob Flood remain the co-brokers retained to market the property, said Wolf. They were originally hired back in 2006.

According to testimony from Tom VanHimbergen (now with Stritch but formerly with St. Francis Seminary and a strategic planner for the archdiocese) before the St. Francis City Planning Commission in November 2008, the archdiocese had only received one serious offer other than Stritch’s.

In response to a Compass question, Wolf indicated someone had expressed interest in the property in 2009 but would not specify who. Asked if the marketing strategy had changed, she said, “The marketing strategy always changes based on potential buyers and perceived use of the property.”

The church is selling the underused property with its aging infrastructure to pay off settlements from clergy abuse lawsuits. Stritch’s Joanne Williams had indicated Stritch’s price for both We Energies and Cousins Center properties had been around $9 million.

Wolf said the archdiocese had not set a deadline by which it needed to sell the Cousins Center.

“We believe the publicity of Stritch’s development plans has increased the perceived opportunities for the property,” Wolf said.

Asked if the archdiocese would insist upon any provisions in a seller’s agreement regarding the portion of Seminary Woods that is part of the Cousins Center property, Wolf said, “Provisions will depend on the buyer and planned use of the property.”

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