Campus sale plans presented by College
Image from Expedia.com of Aurora’s Library
On Jan. 21, 2025, Wells President Henking made a presentation to the Aurora community along with realtors from CBRE on the planned sale of the campus. It was held in the Morgan Opera House above the Village Library.
This was the first time the College publicly addressed Aurora on the community impact of Wells College’s abrupt closure (announced on April 29, 2024 to take effect on June 20, 2024).
A summary of the meeting sent by the College to alums on Jan. 25 omits some important information. (You might want to listen to the recording of the presentation and the subsequent Q&A here and take a look at the slides.)
The summary also includes inaccuracies, such as: “Right-of-First-Refusal means that the Pleasant T. Rowland LLC or the Village of Aurora may purchase the campus by matching the best offer received by the College.”
That statement was not made during the meeting, and it is not true. The Village does not have a Right of First Refusal (ROFR) on The Campus.
The Pleasant T. Rowland LLC, a for-profit limited liability company, holds a ROFR on at the entire campus and all of the college’s properties in the Aurora, except for a small portion of lakefront on which the Village holds a ROFR.
The Rowland LLC exercised its ROFR on the sale of 311 Main St., Morgan House, in the spring of 2024. Then, ownership of the property transferred from Rowland’s LLC to the Inns of Aurora LLC. (Might it be a wholly owned subsidiary of Rowland’s company?)
Could a similar “flip” of ownership take place with the Wells College campus? Yes — but the Rowland ROFR carries an important restriction at its conclusion. It states that it can only be invoked against commercial purchase offers, and not against any offers from non-profit educational institutions!
It’s important to note that the College has been pressuring the Village to remove all of its remaining Institutional zoning on the campus (mostly found in the historic district) while arguing very strongly for campus-wide expansion of Mixed-Use zoning.
That would support purchase offers for the Wells campus from commercial developers — and the likely exercise of Rowland’s ROFR to benefit the Inns of Aurora LLC.
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So, what can alums and friends do? Pass the sales information on to non-profit orgs that might be interested in the property ASAP! Be creative in your outreach. Make sure that interested non-profits understand that parts of the campus could be developed for auxiliary commercial enterprises. (The Athletic Center, Arts Complex, Long Library, Weld Dorm, and sports fields, acres of open space are zoned Mixed Use). And Rowland’s “Right of First Refusal” could not be invoked against an offer from a non-profit educational institution!
