Fate of proposed apartment building in downtown St. Charles up in the air

The fate of a proposed apartment building near the Fox River in St. Charles is up in the air because of the lack of support for vacating Indiana Avenue as part of the project.

Alderpersons on the St. Charles City Council’s Planning and Development Committee on Monday voted 5-3 to recommend approval of the planned use development and preliminary plans for the River East Lofts project. But a straw poll taken at the meeting indicates that the proposed vacation of Indiana Avenue lacks the supermajority – the affirmative vote of eight alderpersons – that it would need to move forward.

Vacating Indiana Avenue is a key part of the project. The developer, Frontier Development, will need to decide, based upon Monday’s discussion, whether to proceed to City Council.

Voting yes were 3rd Ward Alderperson Paul Lencioni, 5th Ward Alderperson Ed Bessner, 1st Ward Alderman Bill Kalamaris, 2nd Ward Alderperson Rita Payleitner and 3rd Ward Alderperson Todd Bancroft.

Voting no were 4th Ward Alderperson David Pietryla, 4th Ward Alderperson Bryan Wirball and 1st Ward Alderperson Ron Silkaitis.

Second Ward Alderperson Ryan Bongard abstained from voting. As chairperson of the Planning and Development Committee, 5th Ward Alderperson Steve Weber did not vote.

The plans have been scaled back after neighbors voiced concerns about the building’s height. Newly revised plans for the River East Lofts project call for reducing the building from five stories to four stories. The project is proposed to be built at the southeast corner of Illinois and Riverside avenues on the site of the former St. Charles Chamber of Commerce building.

Previous plans had called for the building to be 59 feet, 8 inches tall. The zoning district for the area only allows for a maximum building height of 50 feet.

The current plans show the building would be a maximum of 50 feet tall, so the developer is no longer requesting a variance from the city. The apartments would be located on the building’s upper floors while commercial and retail space would be on the first floor.

In addition, the number of units has been reduced from 43 to 42 and the unit mix has changed from 27 one-bedroom/16 two-bedroom units to 12 one-bedroom/30 two-bedroom units. Revised architectural plans have been submitted.

Developer Curt Hurst and his son Conrad own Frontier Development, which has been involved in several projects in downtown St. Charles.

Wirball joined residents in opposing vacating Indiana Avenue as part of the project.

“For me, that needs to be city owned so it gives the people that live over there piece of mind that nothing will be built on it,” he said.

Silkaitis agreed.

“I don’t think it benefits the city,” he said. “It benefits the developer.”

In previously talking about the plans, Curt Hurst said vacating Indiana Avenue “allows us to create a more cohesive open space experience than currently exists.”

Bancroft said he thought Frontier Development “has gone above and beyond, in terms of spending time listening to residents’ concerns.”

Lencioni also spoke in support of the project as a way to help independent businesses thrive.

“We have to have a reasonable amount of growth in this town for independent businesses to continue to do well and to keep the independent character of our town,” he said.

Resident Martha Gass, who lives on South Third Avenue near the proposed development, said she was happy to see the plans scaled back. However, she also was against Indiana Avenue being vacated as part of the project.

“The city should retain ownership of all the public land,” she said. “Mr. Hurst should build on the property that he owns.”

Other changes include reorientation of the building to follow Riverside Avenue, removal of the BMO ATM and increasing the number of parking spaces from 53 to 60 – 36 spaces in the private parking lot and 24 spaces along Second Avenue.

Plan commissioners last month unanimously recommended approval of the revised plans, with one commissioner abstaining because of a conflict. Commissioners said they liked the improvements that have been made and suggested ways to further improve the project, including enhancing the pedestrian sidewalk connection from Indiana Avenue through the site, using brick piers for more substantial balconies on the south elevation to create a covered walkway and extending the public sidewalk down the east side of Riverside Avenue.