Real estate broker eyeing D65 sites

An international real estate, management, and investment firm has proposed marketing school property that School District 65 no longer needs, according to Chief Financial Officer Tamara Mitchell.

And with school shutdowns on the way, there may be plenty of that.

The idea is to put some of the property out for lease or for sale.

Four hours into a four-hour-and-five-minute school board meeting on Monday night, Mitchell was asked about efforts to "monetize" the district's owned or leased assets.

Financially strapped Evanston/Skokie D65 is certainly going to have excess assets (empty buildings) over the next few years, as part of an effort to "right-size" the system by closing schools.

Enrollment has been plunging, and many D65 buildings are one-third-or-more under capacity.

The district is coming off three straight years of deficit spending, and needs to cut $13.2 million from next school year's budget.

Mitchell told the board that she and Assistant Superintendent Stacy Beardsley met on Friday with representatives of JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle), a commercial real estate firm, who had "reached out" to the district.

JLL is Chicago-based and is already has some properties in its Evanston portfolio which are for sale or lease.

Mitchell said one of the "takeaways" from JLL meeting was "rather interesting."

The company presented an idea, Mitchell explained, "of looking at some of our sites which may have large parcels of land ... and either leasing or selling part of those parcels."

Mitchell continued that the idea did not include selling entire sites, but "looking at [this] as an innovative way around how we can monetize some of our spaces."

So, in theory, at least, a school with a "large parcel' might actually be able to stay open while the adjacent land is unloaded.

No specific proposals were mentioned, but presumably a commercial real estate broker would want to find some sort of business opportunity for whatever D65 property might seem appropriate.

Beardsley added that the JLL idea may be just one way to look at money-making possibilities utilizing school property.

"We're going to try to continue to think about those types of options," she added.

Interestingly, or perhaps ironically, one of the JLL reps who met with D65, according to Mitchell, was a woman whose, "daughter may be going to Orrington in the next couple of years."

Of course, with downsizing the horizon, there's no guarantee Orrington will be open in a couple of years.

There are many factors which will go into the school-closing process, and it's important to stress that no decision has been made yet on any buildings (other than the plan to close Bessie Rhodes at the end of the 2025-26 year. The district had previously said it might make at least $4 million from selling Rhodes). The following information is only offered to show some of the issues. (Do Not read this as a decision to close Orrington).

The budget-cut consultant that D65 plans to hire, Susan Harkin, told the board on Monday that the "optimal size" for a K-5 school is 400-600 students.

According to the most recent district data, only one of the system's 10 elementary schools has that many students. That's Washington, with 406. The smallest, with 224 students, is Orrington.

Plus, when Foster School opens for 2026-27, many students who are currently bused to several other buildings will return to what will be their home school in the 5th Ward, further decreasing enrollment in those other facilities. (Foster will have room for 600, K-5, although the actual number will probably be lower, at least to start).

Besides enrollment, decisions on which schools to close will include such things as age and condition of the facility, needed repair costs, where students from a closed school would end up, and how much money would then be needed to fix up that school?

District 65 has 10 elementary schools, three middle schools, two K-8 magnet schools (one of which is Rhodes), two special education buildings, and one early childhood/preschool center.

In a separate report, Mitchell has noted that money saved by closing a school or schools could be "repurposed" for improvements in other buildings, listed most recently as $188 million total.

A new demographic study is expected later this month, to more up-to-date, school-by-school enrollment projections including Foster, so everything is in limbo.

Closings would probably not take place, nor start, until 2026-27, but discussions on what to do will take place a lot sooner.

So if you think the ongoing Bessie Rhodes saga has been difficult, buckle up. There's more on the way.