Yorkville gets no takers on old downtown post office property

YORKVILLE – City officials see redevelopment potential in the former post office building in historic downtown Yorkville.

The 4,700-square-foot one-story building at 201 W. Hydraulic St. was constructed in 1965 and later purchased by the city when the U.S. Postal Service moved to its current facility on the far northeast side.

Since then, the building has been used by the Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department for offices, recreational programming and a preschool.

Now, the parks department is preparing to move into the new Yorkville City Hall building at 651 Prairie Point Drive later this year with the rest of the city offices and departments.

The preschool has already relocated with an expanded program into a building on Game Farm Road owned by Yorkville School District Y115.

So, city officials want to sell the old post office building and recently sought proposals from developers.

At the Sept. 13 Yorkville City Council meeting, aldermen were prepared to open and review those proposals. Except that there were none.

City Administrator Bart Olson told the council that no proposals had been received.

Neither Olson nor Mayor John Purcell seemed particularly disappointed. They indicated that the city likely will make another attempt to market the property in the future.

Olson said the city envisions a retail store, restaurant, brewery or event space in the building, which sits on a 0.37-acre site which backs up to the south bank of the Fox River.

“The city anticipates that a condition of the sale will be that the city retains an easement along the Fox River for the future construction of a riverwalk,” Olson said.

The city would give preference to a redevelopment proposal that would generate sales tax revenue,” Olson said, adding that plans could involve demolition of the building or renovation and expansion of the existing structure.