Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1954 [PAGE 1237]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1234

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[February !8

CONTRACT FOR SERVICES OF REALTORS IN SALE OF UNIVERSITY O W N E D HOUSES (11) Following World W a r II the University purchased a number of residence properties and constructed other houses for rental to new members of the faculty whose services were required to take care of a greatly increased enrollment. This program included the erection of seventy-one prefabricated permanent houses, the construction of six houses designed by the Small Homes Council as a research project, the purchase of fifteen residences in various areas of Urbana and Champaign outside the zone of future campus expansion, the construction of the Student and Staff Apartments on Green Street and Goodwin Avenue, and the construction of thirty houses at Florida Avenue and Race Street, Urbana, by the Small Homes Council as a research and demonstration project. It has been the plan gradually to dispose of all of these properties with the exception of the Student and Staff Apartments, the Small Homes Council houses on Florida Avenue and Race Street, and the properties which the University has acquired primarily for future campus expansion. Out of the original number, forty-eight newly constructed houses and twelve purchased properties remain unsold. T h e permanent residences, including all of the prefabricated houses, will be offered for sale over a period of years and usually on the expiration of a final lease of occupancy and when otherwise vacated. In general it is proposed to offer such properties for sale to the occupants on or before October i preceding the expiration of their leases. If by the following April I the tenant does not elect to purchase the property, it will be put on general sale on the expiration of the lease but may be withdrawn from the market if it is needed for assignment to a new staff member. Houses not sold by the end of the lease period may be assigned to staff members also. T o carry out this program, the University needs the services of local realtors to assist in selling the properties. It is not feasible to list these properties for sale with all local realtors (there being approximately seventy of t h e m ) , and it w~ould not be fair to the lessees to give so many agents the right to show houses to prospective purchasers. T h e Director of the Physical Plant and the Acting Comptroller recommend that the real estate firms of Chumbley, Turner, and Younger, Champaign; Sidney B. Trelease, in the University business district; and Boggs and Cogdall, Urbana, be commissioned to represent the University for the sale of all properties included in this program under the following conditions: a. The standard real estate fees will be paid. In the past a 5 per cent fee has been charged on the first $10,000 of the sale price and 2^4 per cent on the amount above $10,000. A recent action of the Champaign-Urbana Real Estate Board fixed these rates on properties listed prior to January 15, 1954, and continuing on such properties until March 1, 1954, after which the standard fee will be 5 per cent of the total sale price. b . The realtors will submit as part of their service appraisals on properties to be sold and the University will then establish the sale price. ( T h e standard fee will cover all services on each transaction and there will be no extra charge for the appraisal.) c. A standard contract form will be used but will be subject to approval by the University in advance. d. T h e realtors will make public announcement that the properties are on the market and that they will cooperate with all local brokers in the sales of such properties. If another realtor participates, the commission will be shared. All sales negotiated under this plan will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval in advance. I concur in these recommendations.

On motion of Mrs. Watkins, these recommendations were approved and authority was given as requested.

CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF W O M E N ' S ATHLETIC FIELD (12) It is necessary to lay out a new women's athletic field to replace the present one on which the new Home Economics Building will be constructed. Bids have