Battle Over Wirtz Family’s Ivanhoe Village Megaproject Escalates

Tensions are rising over the Wirtz family’s massive Ivanhoe Village megaproject in Mundelein.

Local officials and school districts are battling over how much the developer, Wirtz Realty Corporation, should pay to offset the project’s impact, the Daily Herald reported.

The 3,600-home mixed-use development is expected to bring at least 1,000 new students into local schools over the course of 25 years, requiring an estimated $150 million in costs for new facilities, school officials project.

The Wirtz family, which owns the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, has controlled the land planned for Ivanhoe Village since the mid-1800s, when German immigrant Michael Wirtz began farming what is now known as Ivanhoe Nursery & Farms. The family since then amassed its fortune through a massive beverage business as well as real estate.

The family first announced the Ivanhoe Village project in 2022 after Mundelein annexed the land. But negotiations between the Wirtz team, village officials, Fremont Elementary District 79 and Mundelein High School District 120 have stalled, with school leaders accusing the developer of refusing to contribute a “reasonable portion” of the costs their project will bring to existing residents.

Wirtz representatives, meanwhile, argue the districts are making excessive demands far beyond what the law requires.

“It’s a tough time. I wish there was more unity,” Mundelein Mayor Steve Lentz said after supporters and officials addressed the village board on Feb. 24.

The dispute has spilled into public view. School officials released a letter in late February calling on residents to “demand the Wirtz Family do what’s right,” while Lentz has accused the districts of trying to pressure the developer into overpaying to “embarrass the Wirtz family,” shaming them “just because they’re the Wirtzes,” he told Crain’s.

The mayor argued municipalities, not school boards, are responsible for negotiating impact fees — the one-time payments developers make to local governments to accommodate growth for new construction. Lentz cited past cases where school districts’ demands made projects “undevelopable.”

It’s about a $45 million impasse — the schools are requesting $50 million for a new elementary school, while Wirtz Realty Corporation estimates its total school impact at $4 million to $6 million.

Illinois law limits impact fees to costs directly linked to new development, restricting how much schools can demand. Wirtz representatives say that many of Ivanhoe Village’s homes — the planned apartments, townhomes and age-targeted residences — will generate fewer students than the districts claim.

Wirtz’s legal team accused the schools of negotiating in bad faith and refusing to compromise, leading to their halting the talks entirely in January.

The Mundelein Village Board is set to review Wirtz’s proposed impact fee contributions on March 11, leaving open the possibility of a last-minute deal.

— Judah Duke