Concord officials could not be reached and did not return phone calls to the company's office in Palatine. But a spokesman for Service Corporation International confirmed without identifying Concord that the company had pulled out of a sales agreement. In fact, SCI had entered into sales agreements with two potential buyers, both of whom have backed out, Bolton said. Though he would not identify either, sources and records on file at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency confirm that one was Concord. The identity of the second developer is unclear, but O'Connor said he thought that company might have been working with Concord in some way.
Records indicate the deal began falling through more than a month ago.
On March 14, the agency had sent Cromer a letter informing her that a preliminary archeological survey of the site would be required before plans for development could proceed. According to the agency's letter, the proposed development site contains a Middle Woodland period archeological site. Some materials recovered from the site in the past, such as broken pottery and other evidence of a possible Indian campsite, date back more than 1,000 years, said Mark Esarey, chief archeologist for the agency. In the suit, SCI, which was having trouble selling cemetery land, said that former cemetery owner Potter Palmer IV had failed to disclose that hazardous waste was buried at the cemetery when he sold it to SCI in 1991. Citing Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reports, Palmer's attorneys argued that the fill posed no hazard and that it had not been a secret.