Department of Conservation v. Aspegren Financial Corp.

An action was brought by the plaintiff, the Department of Conservation of the State of Illinois, to condemn an unimproved tract of 160 acres in Lake and McHenry Counties owned by the defendant, Aspegren Financial Corporation. An award of $275,272 was made by the jury on which judgment was entered. The defendant appealed, and the Appellate Court for the Second District affirmed (47 Ill. App. 3d 118). We allowed the defendant’s petition for leave to appeal.

The defendant purchased the tract in December 1970 for $162,000, or about $1,000 an acre, with the stated intent of developing it as a…