By Greg Burns
Tribune senior correspondent
Published January 4, 2007

The University of Chicago is backing off a plan to turn part of its historic Yerkes Observatory into a luxury resort and housing development, responding to pressure from neighbors of the parklike site along Geneva Lake in southern Wisconsin.

A deal in June with New York developer Mirbeau Cos. generated resistance from the lakefront village of Williams Bay, Wis., whose residents were asked to establish a special exposition district to take over the century-old stargazing center.

After a series of overwhelmingly negative public hearings, the university realized its plan "was not viable without at least substantial revisions, and perhaps not at all," said Hank Webber, vice president for community and government affairs for the school. "This is a moment to take a step back."

Now the fate of the obsolete astronomy research hub returns to the drawing board, as the university works with the village to develop a comprehensive plan over the next three months, Webber said. Adler Planetarium and Aurora University, which owns the adjacent George Williams College campus and had previously bid for the Yerkes property, will be invited to participate, he said.

Williams Bay controls the future of the site through its zoning authority, and its trustees await the university's next move, said Donald Weyhrauch, village president. "The village certainly did not want to see what Mirbeau was proposing," he said. "Everybody's just waiting now to see what the plan's going to be."

Opponents doubt the Yerkes site ever will provide a substantial windfall to the University of Chicago, as envisioned in the proposed sale to Mirbeau. "The question they should have asked a long time ago is not how much money they can get out of it but how much they will need to put into it to preserve the building," said Larry Larkin, who leads a citizens' group that opposed the development. "It's going to cost them less if they have the support and participation of the community."

Webber said the university still needs to sell Yerkes to redirect resources into teaching and cutting-edge research using state-of-the-art telescopes far from population centers. Yerkes' famed 40-inch refracting telescope dates from the late Victorian age, and its use is hampered by the relatively cloudy and light-polluted skies over southern Wisconsin. At the same time, the university always stayed committed to preserving the historic, castle-like building and grounds, Webber said. "Our goals remain the same."

Mirbeau, which planned to build a 100-room spa and 72 new homes, hasn't ruled out the 79-acre Yerkes property but is looking at three or four other sites in the area that might be available, according to owner Gary Dower. "We've been asked to stand to the side," Dower said. "We obviously are disappointed because we thought the opportunity we presented with the university was a good opportunity."

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gburns@tribune.com

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