The City Council last week voted to sell seven acres it no longer needs back to the original owner for nearly $130,000 more than the city paid for the land two years ago.
“It’s nice to vote on a plan that brings money in instead of spending it,” commented Ald. Linnea Miller (3rd).
Batavia originally sought to buy the 7 1/2-acre parcel located between Batavia Business Park and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in 2002 to use as a waste-transfer station. Though that station was eventually built elsewhere, the city bought the land two years ago for an electric substation that would serve a high-power line for Fermilab.
Because that substation is now being built on Fermilab property, the city is selling most of the parcel back to Batavia Business Park, keeping only half an acre to use as an easement and driveway to reach the substation, City Administrator Bill McGrath said.
The city paid $1,211,463 for the land in 2004 and will receive $1,277,798 when the resale happens this month. The $66,335 difference plus the $60,030 value of the remaining half acre brings the city’s profit to $126,365.
“We kept ourselves whole with this deal,” McGrath said. “The difference is similar to what the city would have earned if we’d invested the money two years ago instead of buying the land.”