Geneva council re-approves Third Street apartment plan

GENEVA – Aldermen unanimously re-approved a site plan for a mixed-use building of 60 apartments, 63 off-street parking spots and more than 6,000 feet of commercial space at the former site of Duke and Lee’s auto repair.

The project calls for 54 one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom apartments in an L-shaped building on .77 of an acre on the northeast corner of South Third and South First street.

The City Council’s action Monday to restate and re-grant conditional site plan approval was necessary because the approval it granted on Aug. 17, 2020 had expired on Aug. 17, 2021. The new deadline is Oct. 4, 2022.

The developer, Ron Dean, a partner and vice president of Sumac Development Corporation in Chicago, had requested to restate the previous approval and to extend the deadline to obtain building permits and begin construction by another year, officials said.

Third Ward Aldermen Dean Kilburg asked the developer about the delay.

“You indicated that you anticipated construction in late fall of 2020 or early spring of 2021,” Kilburg said. “Could you explain why you did not commence with construction plans? Or why you left your site plan approval expire?”

Dean said the delay was related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it affected the Illinois Department of Transportation.

“That’s been a two-fold delay,” Dean said. “The first that caused us to miss the fall of 2020 was IDOT approval. We had to get a permit for the reuse of the access of First Street. And IDOT, with their Covid delays, working remotely, they didn’t get us through a permit that we started directly after that August meeting until spring of 2021.”

IDOT’s delay prevented Sumac from completing its applications for a permit in Geneva – which is required to get financing, Dean said.

The second problem was the price of lumber escalated during the pandemic.

Lumber prices were volatile, which prevented financing groups to commit to the project, he said.

“At one point, we were seeing lumber price on our project going up $20,000 a week,” Dean said. “And we could only hold that price for five days, which is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to finance under.”

Dean said though there have been price spikes, more recently there is more stability in lumber and he hopes to be able to get financing so the project can move forward.

“We are ready to pull a building permit as soon as we get financing,” Dean said.

Kilburg berated Dean for allowing the site plan approval to expire and requiring the city to give approval again.

“Was there a reason why this wasn’t being more closely monitored by your team?” Kilburg asked.

Dean said he had been in communication with Community Development Director David DeGroot a month ago about getting it back on the agenda.

“Now it’s on our agenda again, but it didn’t necessarily have to be on our agenda, is what I’m saying,” Kilburg said.

“Thank you for coming. I wish you would have come months ago and asked for this,” Kilburg said. “Or indicate to the council what was happening as far as the thing you pointed out. We’re all aware of Covid, we’re all aware of construction costs. Maybe that explanation a little earlier in 2021 would have been helpful.”