Conservation Foundation buys Dundee land once eyed for warehouse development

Dundee Township land once proposed for a warehouse development has been purchased by The Conservation Foundation to be preserved for open space.

Brook McDonald, president and CEO of the Naperville-based foundation, said the sale was finalized in May 2025 but not made public until the nonprofit put up a “Land Saved” sign at the corner of Binnie and Randall roads.

The foundation is leasing the 122-acre site to the Forest Preserve District of Kane County for now but hopes to sell it to the district to be added to its 24,228 acres of open space.

Owned by the Galvin family, the property was on the market about four years ago when a developer interested in using it for a warehouse/distribution center approached Carpentersville about annexing it into the village.

Neighbors and open space advocates banded together to oppose the development, nicknaming it “Diesel Farm,” and flooded a Carpentersville Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in September 2022 where U.S. Capital presented an overview of its plans.

Opponents were concerned about the number of diesel trucks that would be going to and from the facility and the noise, pollution and potential danger for vehicles that would accompany them. Ultimately, the village nixed discussions in 2023 after the developer failed to provide additional details about what was being planned.

McDonald said many Conservation Foundation members and volunteers live in the Dundee Township area and were active in trying to prevent the site’s development.

When U.S. Capital opted not to proceed with the purchase, an anonymous person stepped in to buy it, he said. They then sold it for $6 million to the foundation, which used a $1.5 million donation and private family foundation financing to make the purchase, McDonald said.

The land had been used as a horse training facility when the Galvin family, founders of the Motorola Corp., owned it. Aerial photos show the outline of a horse training track, said McDonald, who noted it would make a good walking path.

There’s also a grove of mature oaks and wetlands on the property, and it’s not far from Schweitzer Woods Forest Preserve in West Dundee, he said.

The foundation is holding onto the land for now but hopes to eventually sell it to the forest preserve district, which recently passed a tax referendum to buy more open space, McDonald said. The district is “trying to be prudent with their funds,” and has been applying for grants to help fund the purchase, he said.

District officials were not available for comment.

In addition to being near Schweitzer Woods, the land is also across the street from the Randall Oaks Recreational Center. Ideally, an overpass or underpass could be built to connect it to the center grounds, allowing other trails to link to the forest preserve, McDonald said.

The foundation’s decision to buy the property is in line with its longtime mission to preserve open space, he said.

“We’ve been around for over 50 years. We’ve helped save 36,000 acres of land over that period,” said McDonald, who has been with the group since 1996.

This was an unusual purchase for them, he added, because it involved a large financial donation and was financed through a private foundation.

But the end result was a good one: “Everybody walks away happy,” McDonald said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.