Redevelopment of Charlestowne Mall among projects in St. Charles expected to move forward this year

St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek is hopeful that the long awaited redevelopment of Charlestowne Mall will move ahead this year.

“The conversations happening with Charlestowne Mall haven’t stopped,” Vitek said. “There’s going to be some sort of, I believe, conclusions here in the next year.”

Charlestowne Mall had first opened in 1991 and is now largely vacant. The partnership of S.R. Jacobson Development Corporation and Lormax Stern Development Company LLC. have entered into a purchase agreement for the former Charlestowne Mall property with current owners The Krausz Companies, Inc.

In December 2017, Krausz Companies Inc. closed the interior shops and enclosed mall space at the center. Anchors Von Maur and Classic Cinemas Charlestowne 18 remain in the mall.

Plans call for retaining Classic Cinemas and Von Maur and demolishing the other mall buildings. In their place, 351 apartments in nine three-story buildings would be built along with 209 rental townhouses in two-story buildings.

The nearby Cooper’s Hawk restaurant and the Starbucks/Verizon building also would be retained. The proposal also calls for 40,700 square feet of new commercial development along Main Street as well as a 135-room hotel on the site’s west side.

Vitek noted that the city has been able to attract economic development during the pandemic and will see even more economic development in 2022. That includes such projects as McGrath Honda’s redevelopment of the former Pheasant Run Mega Center.

“That should all hopefully wrap up within the year,” she said.

Vitek also expects a project to redevelop the former Pheasant Run Resort golf course as an industrial park will get started this year.

GSI Family Investments of Arizona LLC purchased the golf course from the DuPage Airport Authority for $11.275 million and proposes to build four industrial buildings encompassing more than one million square feet of space along with 13 acres of stormwater detention.

“I know they want to be building, or at least digging in the ground this year,” Vitek said. “So there will be quite a bit of progress over there on the east side.”

The city will also see its fair share of new businesses open this year, including Beef Shack. In September, Beef Shack was given the green light to open near its former location on West Main Street in St. Charles.

Aldermen unanimously approved special uses for a restaurant and drive-through facility for the former TitleMax building at 2015 W. Main St. in St. Charles, near its former location, which closed in February 2020.

Beef Shack’s St. Charles restaurant, which opened in 2011, was the first Beef Shack in the franchise chain. The previous restaurant did not have a drive-through.

The city also is working on its own projects, including a project that addresses flooding issues along 7th Avenue Creek. That project should be close to wrapping up in the next year, she said.

Another project, the expansion of the First Street Plaza in downtown St. Charles, also continues to move ahead. In September, the city broke ground for the project.

“By the spring, we should have a flat piece of land where that hole is,” Vitek said. ‘We should be able to utilize it by spring.”

Aldermen this year also are expected to review development proposals for the former police station and adjacent city-owned properties after holding off last year because of the pandemic.

At the Oct. 18 St. Charles City Council meeting, aldermen unanimously voted to seek conceptual proposals for the former police station along the Fox River. The development site potentially includes adjacent open spaces and parking lots.

“I do know there are several developers that plan to submit proposals,” she said.

In September 2019, the department’s new $24.6 million state-of-the-art police station at 1515 W. Main St. opened for business. The new 56,000-square-foot station replaces the department’s former quarters at 211 N. Riverside Ave., portions of which date back almost 100 years.

The city this year will also finish filling staff vacancies. Aldermen are expected to fill the position of economic development director this month.

Following the retirement of Community and Economic Development Director Rita Tungare last year, Tungare’s position has been split into two – one for community development and the other for economic development. Russell Colby was recently promoted to the position of director of community development.

Colby began working for the city in August 2007 as city planner and had been serving as the city’s acting director of community and economic development following Tungare’s retirement. After filling the position of economic development director, the city will be fully staffed.

North Aurora finance director Bill Hannah will become the new finance director for St. Charles at the end of the month. At the Jan. 3 St. Charles City Council meeting, aldermen unanimously approved hiring Hannah, who has been North Aurora’s finance director/treasurer since Oct. 2005.

He is set to start in his new position on Jan. 31. Hannah fills a vacancy after finance director Chris Minick left the city last year to become the city of Aurora’s chief financial officer.

“Having a full staff is a really good thing for us,” Vitek said.