Gov. James Thompson and the Illinois State Legislature are once again dangling funds in front of NIU administrators for the acquisition of the DeKalb Wurlitzer property.

The legislature earmarked $2 million of a $358.2 million bill for NIU to acquire the former Wurlitzer Piano Company headquarters. The NIU property amendment was sponsored by Rep. John Countryman, R-DeKalb, and passed Aug. 25.

However, Thompson included a letter with the appropriation cautioning that the funds approved might not be available.

“We don’t know this money is available. At this point, people are only looking at the feasibility of the project,” Countryman said. “We don’t know that we can acquire the land or that we can put together a project.”

Negotiations are “on hold” at this point, NIU Assistant to the President Kenneth Beasley said. “We really don’t want to start until we’re sure the money is available,” he said.

The purchase looked certain last year when the legislature approved a $1.2 million bill which would have funded part of the purchase and renovation of the property, but Thompson crushed plans when he vetoed the bill Aug. 31, 1988, citing uncertain future funding.

The 70-acre property includes six buildings and 132,000 square feet of useable space. The property is at 403 Gurler St., about four miles south of NIU.

NIU administrators hoped to develop an engineering and research park where businesses and researchers could lease space.

The research park might have made DeKalb the western anchor of the Interstate 88 high-tech corridor, originating in Chicago.

If the property is purchased by NIU, it might “not necessarily be a research park,” Countryman said. The university is “considering a number of alternatives,” he said.

The university could use the property as a research park, as a university satellite to ease campus space problems or as a “business incubator” to help new businesses “get off the ground,” Beasley said.

Last year, the owners of the property, Equitable Real Estate Investment Management Inc., asked $1.5 million for the property, but eventually lowered the price to $400,000.

If NIU purchases the property and uses it as a research park, “it has a lot of promise in the areas of science, engineering and business,” Beasley said.

Private donors pledged almost $390,000 last year to aid the purchase, but Countryman said he did not think the funds are available.