Former bowling alley in North Aurora to become storage facility

NORTH AURORA – A former bowling alley at 310 S. Lincolnway will be redeveloped into a self-service storage facility.

North Aurora village trustees Monday voted to approve the plans. Village trustee Chris Faber was the sole trustee to vote against the proposal.

“I would like to see something in that spot that creates jobs or tax revenues,” Faber said after the meeting.

The owners of Next Door Storage, which operates several facilities throughout the Chicago area, proposed converting the former 40,000-square-foot bowling alley into an indoor self-service storage facility.

The concept plan also included building self-storage facilities on the northern and western portions of the property.

“It would be a vast improvement over what is there now,” Next Door Storage owner Jack Murphy said in a recent presentation to village trustees.

Murphy and his son, Philip Murphy, own Next Door Storage.

Village President Dale Berman said he backed the proposal, saying Route 31 is more of a corridor providing services than a retail corridor.

“They are going to do a beautiful job of landscaping,” Berman said. “So that in itself is going to make it attractive. All in all, I think it is going to make it much better.”

He also noted the property has been for sale for eight years.

“I would love to see some retail [project] there that would bring in lots of money to the village, but it’s been vacant all this time,” Berman said. “They’ve been trying to market it, and things are just not coming to Route 31.”