Lake Forest May Remove Barat Campus From Historic District

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Removal of the former from the Lake Forest historic district to facilitate its ultimate donation to began Monday night when the directed staff to begin preparations to make the change. 

The council believes removal of the property from the historic district was the most feasible way to determine whether it was willing to comply with the , who plans to donate the property to Woodlands. 

One of the conditions requires demolition of 107-year-old Old Main as a prerequisite to complete the transaction. The donor would pay to raze the building before giving it to Woodlands.

Council Has Two Options

gave the council two options to allow Old Main to be razed. One would allow the Historic Preservation Commission to make the decision since the 32-acre tract lies in the historic district. 

The second option, preferred by a majority of aldermen, would jettison the property from the historic district, allowing the Historic Preservation Commission to make a recommendation to the City Council, which it could accept or reject. 

“The district was consciously created to include Old Main but not the entire (Barat) campus,” Czerniak said. “This way the standards for demolition would be the building code as opposed to the historic district.” 

Lake Forest city attorney Victor Filippini told the City Council removing the property from the historic district would give it more leeway to comply with the donor’s request, and reduce the possibility of effective legal challenges. 

Czerniak gave the council a brief history of the property since it was closed as Barat. A new owner attempted to restore Old Main as part of a residential development, but the project stalled.

“They never got above the sub-basement,” she said.

Restoration of Old Main 'Cost-Prohibitive'

Based on comments by Alderman David Moore, who served on the Historic Preservation Commission and toured Old Main as part of his duties, and Woodlands Head of School , the cost of restoring the 107-year-old property would be prohibitive. 

Moore expressed his preference to exclude the property from the historic district to give the council the most efficient option to allow demolition. 

“Option 2 gets them off the hook,” Moore said of the restrictions tying the hands of the commission. “It is a real conundrum to fix up this building. It would cost tens of millions of dollars.” 

Grossman does not have a specific cost to restore Old Main to a useful facility, but knew it was very expensive when Woodlands looked at reuniting the campuses a few years ago. “I heard a number something north of $20 million,” he said.

Seek Reason Behind Demolition

Not everyone is happy with the plan to demolish Old Main as a condition to donating the property to Woodlands for educational purposes. Art Miller, a past president and board member of the , is not so eager to want to see it come down. 

Miller dismisses the deadlines as business tactics. The foundation is not a government-affiliated entity. 

“That’s a negotiating position,” Miller said, speaking for himself and not the foundation. “That’s bullying and will not work with people who want to come up with a solution.”

Miller wants to know the identity of the donor and its reasons for demolishing Old Main. 

Miller and others opposed will have their opportunity to object when the Historic Preservation Committee meets Oct. 26 to discuss removing the campus from the historic district. If approved, the matter would go to the City Council. 

Czerniak said completing the approval process by the Dec. 20 deadline is feasible.