Yerkes sale fails

Local opposition has scuttled the planned sale of Yerkes Observatory. The University of Chicago had arranged to sell the historic observatory and surrounding land to a developer, who was going to build a resort; room taxes would have been used to support science education programs at the observatory (see Physics Today, July 2006, page 24 ). But the buyer, Mirbeau Co, withdrew early this year after it became clear that the Village of Williams Bay, Wisconsin, was unlikely to rezone lakefront property for commercial use or make other changes in its zoning and tax laws to facilitate the plan.

“We’re starting from scratch,” says University of Chicago astronomer Richard Kron, who chairs an official study group on the future of the observatory. The group includes representatives of Williams Bay and nearby educational institutions. “Everyone shares a vision that public outreach, teacher development, and summer camps is the direction we’d like to go, but it’s a matter of getting our hands around this more specifically,” says Kron. “You have to know what you are asking other institutions to buy into.”

The aim is to find a way to fund the observatory for the long term while developing the area in a manner acceptable to Williams Bay. Kron hopes to present a proposal to the university this fall.