Aqua closing a shame

Only two summers ago, the community celebrated Evergreen Aqua Park’s 50th anniversary. Aqua was a terrific meeting place for area families searching for an affordable escape from the heat. The pool facility turned into an institution for summer fun and a springboard for thousands of local youths diving into their first employment.

But after 51 years, Aqua’s board of directors pulled the plug on those memories, agreeing on Jan. 14 to close the facility. Aqua is, sadly, in the bank’s hands and will likely go into foreclosure.

The pool’s board approved closing the facility after learning the property’s appraised value is less than one-tenth of what it was 12 years ago. Aqua, 8956 S. Troy Ave., Evergreen Park, was appraised for $145,000, said Don Disteldorf, chairman of the pool’s finance committee and a founding member of its board of directors. Aqua was appraised at $2.12 million 12 years ago when a similar property at 96th Street and Kildare Avenue in Oak Lawn was sold for $700,000, he said.

An appraiser hired by Fifth Third Bank in Evergreen Park performed the appraisal after the pool sought an $80,000 loan from the bank to cover expenses until payments of membership dues started coming in April. The bank approved the loan, but it was contingent upon the appraisal.

Aqua was financed through the sale of bonds for $295 per family and annual membership dues of $365 per family. Aqua experienced its peak in the late 1980s serving 2,300 families, with many more on waiting lists. In recent years, Aqua served about 800 families. The decline in membership, increasing expenses and decreased revenue due to a cool 2009 summer led to financial challenges, Disteldorf said. Besides unpredictable weather, the pool competed with summer homes, backyard pools, video games and air conditioning.

The Village of Evergreen Park has not expressed interest in taking over the facility, but few would blame officials if they must spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover the mortgage and bond money.

The closing of Aqua might appear to be a sign of the times, but something doesn’t add up. It’s hard to believe there was not more of a fight. Aqua is certainly not worth $2 million, but its property value surely exceeds $146,000, and if so, how does no one see that coming? A property a block long doesn’t just vanish into a bank’s hand this quickly, nor does a community give up that easily on a wonderful local institution.

This is part of the February 3, 2010 online edition of The Beverly Review.

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