Price drop for McHenry’s Just for Fun Roller Rink destroyed in 2021 arson

The McHenry City Council this week dropped by almost $250,000 the asking price on the arson-destroyed former roller rink property it has owned for two years, but not because it was sitting unsold, an official said.

In May 2022, a year after the Just For Fun Roller Skating Rink at 914 Front St. (Route 31) burned down, McHenry took over the property, cleaned it up and has had it on the market for potential redevelopment since.

The council on Monday approved a reduction in the asking price from $995,000 to $750,000, but not because the property has not sold, said Ross Polerecky, director of community development.

Instead, the city sold a portion of the land to the Illinois Department of Transportation in advance of its plans to widen the Route 31 from Route 176 to Route 120, meaning the size of the property is smaller now.

“The state of Illinois purchased additional right-of-way for the Route 31 expansion. We were waiting, and we knew we would have to adjust the price. We didn’t know what the state would take” until a deal was finalized with IDOT, Polerecky said.

We were waiting, and we knew we would have to adjust the price.”

—  McHenry Community Development Director Ross Polerecky

In March, IDOT paid McHenry $39,500 for a slice about one-tenth of an acre of the former roller skating rink property and $3,600 for an additional 0.028 acres for a construction easement. According to online McHenry County online Geographic Information System records, the entire property is about 2¼ acres.

When IDOT will start the Route 31 widening projects is unknown. A department spokesperson said that in May 2023, the project was in Phase II design, “which consists of refining the design to develop contract plans and also includes any land acquisition. The land acquisition process must follow state and federal statutes, and while it is ongoing, any specific details are not public.”

McHenry received the Front Street property by judicial deed in early 2022 and paid for contractors to clear the debris after the May 28, 2021, fire that gutted the building. The city also had to remediate soil on the site: a buried fuel oil storage tank there had leaked over the years, Polerecky said.

The only interest shown by developers so far have been for housing, but the property is zoned as C-5 Highway Commercial, Polerecky said.

The fact that it has not yet sold for commercial development may be because of the Route 31 plans, he added.

“For a couple of years, access would be limited because of construction,” he said.

The city is working with the owner of an adjacent property with an unoccupied quonset-style building “to get that demolished,” Polerecky said, adding that he believes the roller rink site will be ripe for development in the future.

“But it will hinge on the state and the expansion of [Route] 31 and when it gets done,” Polerecky said.