Area near O’Hare sought by redevelopers
By Dee Longfellow
According to a story reported by the Daily Herald last week, developers may have their eyes on the White Pines Golf Club property located at 500 W. Jefferson St. in Bensenville.
The club’s 260 acres is bordered by Church Road on the west, York Road on the east, Jefferson Street on its north side and south to Belmont Avenue, and dates back to 1928.
As the only public course in the area, it has been a popular place to host weddings, golf outings and charity events for organizations throughout DuPage County.
Joseph Vallez, executive director of the Bensenville Park District, said village officials had been occasionally receiving inquiries from developers about the large tract of land for about the past five years, according to the Daily Herald. It was also reported that while no offers have been solicited, the Park District is considering the discussion of a sale.
Last August, state lawmakers granted the park district the authority to sell up to 125 acres of the property. Vallez told the Daily Herald that hypothetically, the park district could sell that 125 acres and turn the remaining 135 acres into a “new state-of-the-art recreation facility, be it a soccer facility, baseball, a combination of both, potentially a new golf course.”
“With that remaining land, there’s definitely going to be a continued public use with a new recreation facility, if the park district decides to go down that path,” Vallez said, insisting nothing had been decided as yet. Still, proceeds from such a sale could be used to fund facility upgrades and repairs throughout the park district.
Plans are already being considered, according to the Park District web site, where the Bensenville Park District Board of Commissioners have a statement indicating they have indeed received several inquiries from private companies interested in redeveloping parts of the White Pines property.
Some ideas under consideration have been laid out in a plan dubbed “Bensenville 2.0,” which can be found at bvilleparks.org.
A statement on the web site explains: “The project is still in an exploratory phase, which includes proposing options for the use of any proceeds generated from the sale … Once thoroughly vetted and approved, the sale of certain White Pines acres would be a significant economic engine that would produce resources to support district-wide indoor and outdoor capital improvement projects and programming. Those projects would improve virtually every aspect of the district’s operations to benefit patrons of all ages.”
A proud neighborhood
If any redevelopment in that area were to move forward, perhaps the biggest obstacle would be the residents of the White Pines residential area. The neighbors in that area have often stood united when political circumstances threaten to invade their neighborhood and disrupt their way of life and they are not afraid to be vocal.
The Village of Bensenville already lost some of its neighborhoods to the expansion of O’Hare Airport. In 2021, more than 100 houses were torn down in the Mohawk Terrace subdivision, located north of the village to make way for the construction of industrial spaces close to the airport.
Most of the homes were purchased at a premium, due to the demand for industrial buildings. At that time, Bensenville Village Manager Evan Summers told the Daily Herald that, “It’s a testament of what industrial real estate is going for. These opportunities don’t come up often.”
