How much is too much?

PRINCETON — The Princeton City Council will market the city’s logistics center/commercial park through a Chicago-based realtor, Lee & Associates of Illinois, with a recommended starting price of $35,000 per acre.

At its meeting this week, the city council voted 4 to 1 to hire the Chicago firm; Commissioner Joel Quiram cast the lone no vote. Princeton bought the 132-acre property about four years ago at approximately $25,500 per acre. The property is located north of Interstate 80 and west of Route 26 on the north edge of Princeton.

Prior to Monday’s vote, Quiram presented his concerns with the proposed ordinance, saying he thought the asking price of $35,000 per acre was too high, and he wasn’t sure the Chicago realtor had a good handle on the rural business market, specifically the use of enterprise zone incentives.

According to his research, Quiram said a similar property in the LaSalle-Ottawa area would go for about $10,000 an acre, or maybe $12,000 to $15,000 per acre if those properties had the infrastructure improvements which have been made to the Princeton property. Prospective buyers looking for properties on a national website might not even see properties in the $35,000 range, he said.

Princeton has a lot of competition, and the city needs to put its properties head and shoulders over that competition, which a $35,000 asking price doesn’t do, Quiram said. If Princeton could get a company to come in and bring 200 to 300 jobs to Princeton, he’d be willing to give them the property, he said.

In his comments, Commissioner Terry Madsen said he agreed the property needs to be moved, and he’d also be willing to give the property away to a company that brought a couple hundred jobs to the area. But for some of the other information presented by Quiram, he was hearing that for the first time, Madsen said.

When asked for his input, Princeton Zoning Officer Pete Nelson said he thinks the $35,000 price suggested by the Chicago realtor reflects amenities which have been put into the logistics center, as well as the property’s close proximity to Interstate 80. Also, the higher price does give some room for negotiations, Nelson said. As far as the realtor not understanding enterprise zone status, Nelson said he thought the Chicago realtor could get up to speed on that without a lot of problem.