Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1954 [PAGE 1235]

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1232

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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[February 18

T h e Sanitary District is proposing a plant improvement by the construction of a digester with certain other equipment, at an estimated total cost of between $90,000 and $100,000. T h e improvement is required to provide adequate sludge digestion facilities which will prevent further pollution of the Saline Ditch and reduce fly nuisance caused by improperly digested sludge. T h e estimated completion time is October, 1954. T h e Director of the Physical Plant and the Acting Comptroller recommend a nonrecurring appropriation of $18,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to pay the University's share of this improvement computed in accordance with the above formula. I concur.

On motion of Mrs. Watkins, this appropriation was made by the following vote: Aye, Mr. Livingston, Mrs. Watkins; no, none; absent, Mr. Megran.

ACQUISITION OF WESLEY F O U N D A T I O N PROPERTY (9) Negotiations have been concluded with the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois for the acquisition of the property owned by it which the University desires to purchase in the block bounded by Green Street, Goodwin Avenue, Illinois Street, and Mathews Avenue in the city of Urbana, Illinois, and for the transfer to the Foundation of the University property in this area which the Foundation desires to acquire, in accordance with the terms and conditions recommended by the Committee on Buildings and Grounds and approved by the Board of Trustees. This is to report that this transaction has been consummated through the exchange of special warranty deeds and payment of the agreed price to the Foundation. T h e land thus acquired by the University is needed as the site for a life sciences building which has been a top priority project in its building program for several years. It will take some time to dispose of the buildings (some of them are being used by the University and the activities housed in them will have to be transferred elsewhere) on the site and clear the area for new construction. It is important to acquire the land well in advance of availability of funds for construction and thus avoid potential and costly delays later. There is one more parcel of property, privately owned, on Illinois Street which the University needs to acquire. Negotiations for its purchase are in progress. T h e contracting parties have agreed upon, surveyed, and established a joint boundary line 75 feet south of and parallel to the east and west center line of the block. T h e Foundation has conveyed all of its property south of this line to the University and the latter has conveyed the land it owned north of this line to the Foundation. Since the University has acquired a much larger area of land than it conveyed, it has made a net payment of $117,500 to the Foundation. One of the parcels of Foundation property purchased by the University is at the southwest corner of the block and is under lease until June 30, 1954, so that conveyance of this particular tract to the University is subject to the lease. The rent payable under the lease will be prorated between the University and the Foundation. T h e Foundation has agreed to waive its claim for rent subsequent to the termination of a rent-free agreement, up to the date of sale, on property of the Foundation which the University has been occupying and using as a parking lot for use by its staff. This is the corner area at Illinois Street and Goodwin Avenue east of the University Club. T h e University, the Foundation, and the Trinity Methodist Church have covenanted that none of them will erect or maintain any building or other structure within fifteen feet north and south of the joint boundary line so established. The University will remove by August 15, 1954, all buildings and material above normal ground level on the land it owned north of this line and, if requested by the Foundation, will erect a suitable temporary fence on the line to separate the properties. T h e joint boundary line was established by survey and monumented, the legal descriptions of the various tracts conveyed by the deeds were ascertained and agreed upon, the title of the Foundation to the land conveyed by it to the