Icons For Sale: County Continues to Own Former Sixth Street School, For Now

Editor's note: This is the ninth of a multipart summer series by and looking at the iconic Geneva buildings for sale or facing future moves, and what those moves mean for Geneva's long-term development. See the series intro .

In 2003, it seemed all but certain that the Geneva Public Library District would purchase the site of the former Sixth Street School.

At the time, the Regional Office of Education (ROE) occupied the county-owned building at 210 South Sixth St. after the Health Department had moved out. The Kane County Board sought bids to buy the property.

Eventually, the County Board approved a contract with the library for the 2-acre city block with a $1.025 million appraised value. The contract was never executed, however, and the ROE continues to occupy the space to this day.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns recalls that the contract “was practically a done deal until those living in the neighborhood surrounding Sixth Street said, ‘Hell no. The library would create too much traffic, too much congestion, too much noise.’ ”

Eight years later, the library is in the process of acquiring a new property: the former Cetron factory at 715 Hamilton St.

The library has the right of first refusal if the county decides to put Sixth Street on the market again. Therefore, the mayor points out that, “should Cetron fall through, the library might buy that.”

Regional Superintendent Doug Johnson told The Daily Herald in 2009 that he hopes his offices continue to occupy the space.

As head of the ROE, Johnson said, “We would like to stay in this building as long as possible.”

Tim Harbaugh, the Kane County director of facilities, subdivision and environmental resources, said he couldn’t speculate whether the County Board would consider selling the property in the near future.

Because the building is 87 years old, any changes to the site would be costly. Therefore, Harbough believes it’s unlikely that the county would use the building for any other office.

“I would not see the county putting anything new into that building,” he said.

For the time being, it seems the ROE will continue to occupy the old Sixth Street School; but, as the never-executed library contract shows, the former school’s future is never certain.