The closure of Evanston/Skokie School District 65’s lone magnet bilingual school could mean a new chapter for the property as public parkland.
According to Executive Director Michelle Tuft, the Skokie Park District is interested in purchasing the now-shuttered Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies to turn the land into an extension of Timber Ridge Park, which sits adjacent to the property at 9040 Lawndale Avenue in Skokie.
The news comes as the Skokie Park District is preparing to ask voters to approve a $53 million, 20-year bond referendum on the Nov. 3 election ballot. That money would go to develop the new Channelside Park South in Skokie and improve an existing park.
The Bessie Rhodes purchase and Timber Ridge park expansion is a separate project and would be an additional cost for the park district, in the neighborhood of $12.4 million, though the park district is applying for grants to fund it.
If approved by voters, the referendum will increase local property taxes beginning in 2027.
The Skokie Park District is not the only buyer interested in purchasing Bessie Rhodes, but it has gained local momentum.
“When District 65 decided to close the school and sell it, we had a lot of residents in the area come forward and were interested in the Park District taking that property and doing something with it,” Tuft told Pioneer Press.
“The Board, when they found out about it, we said, ‘yeah, let’s explore purchasing the property and let’s see where it goes’.”
A Timber Ridge Park expansion could still go ahead if the $53 million referendum fails on election day, assuming District 65 were to sell the Bessie Rhodes property to the Skokie Park District.
To help finance the potential acquisition, Tuft said the park district’s Board voted Aug. 18 to apply for the state-funded Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant, sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
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If awarded, the grant would provide the district with up to $1.125 million to purchase the building and its surrounding property.
It requires a “matching” equivalent supplied by the applicant, meaning the district would have to shell out that same amount if provided the maximum funding award.
Public documents detailing the preliminary design concept include the addition of a basketball court, recreation center, soccer field, playground, public restrooms, walking path, additional seating and more.
Park officials are estimating the project to cost roughly $7.7 million, not including the purchase of the school building, which Tuft said the Board was told would “probably be somewhere around $4.7 million.”
Where the district will get the additional millions of dollars needed to help finance the project remains to be seen, but design plans for the park list efforts to seek funding from state legislators as part of Illinois’ capital improvement budget, along with private donations.
According to officials, if the Park District were to receive the grant, it would then apply for additional OSLAD development funding — another $600,000 matching grant — in the 2027 grant cycle.
How much the Park District receives from OSLAD would determine the total budget for the site’s redevelopment, Tuft said, and will also dictate the final design plan for the park’s expansion.
All plans are preliminary until the site officially goes up for sale, which Park District officials said could take “several months.” Bessie Rhodes School closed permanently on June 5 due to staffing shortages and District 65’s severe budget cuts to make up for its long-running financial deficit.
District 65 officials would also have to agree to sell the property to the Skokie Park District.
“My understanding is that there are two governmental agencies interested: it’s us and Evanston Township High School, and the school district Board directed staff to negotiate with the governmental agencies,” Tuft said.
District 65 did not immediately respond to a Pioneer Press request for comment on prospective buyers who’ve expressed interest in the property or when it would likely go up for sale.
Tuft said the Park District has hosted a number of public information sessions to gather input from residents on what they want to see in a potential extension of Timber Ridge Park.
An online petition created by a local attorney advocating for the sale of Bessie Rhodes to the Skokie Park District has garnered more than 800 signatures as of Aug. 27.
“Many parts of Skokie enjoy community gathering spaces and cultural facilities. Eastern Skokie does not have a comparable center,” Nathan Lichtenstein, the petition’s organizer, wrote on change.org.
Lichtenstein added that if the property leaves public ownership, he believes the likelihood of the land opportunity returning remains far-fetched.
“Land adjacent to an existing park is extraordinarily difficult to assemble and preserve. Future generations should not lose this unique community resource because we failed to act when the opportunity existed.”