Joliet may add housing near Gateway Center

The city is eying future development around the Joliet Gateway Center, the downtown transportation hub that houses the new train station and bus depot.

Joliet is looking at housing and other development in an area that includes 6.2 acres of land it owns and the garage on Osgood Street that Pace vacated last year when it moved regional busing operations to a new facility in Plainfield.

The city’s interest in transit-related development was put into focus by the availability of a grant from the Regional Transportation Authority. The grant would provide funding to study the viability of such a plan.

“It’s a great opportunity for the city and downtown,” said Eva-Maria Tropper, director of community development for the city. “Potentially, you’ve got retail and walkability to transit.”

City officials for years have promoted access to Metra lines as an asset for downtown residences.

The City Council on Tuesday will vote on whether to accept a $114,750 grant from the Regional Transportation Authority and move ahead with planning for future development around the Gateway Center.

The grant requires that Joliet put up $20,250 in city funding to make up a total of $135,000 to fund the planning project.

“It’s a grant we can use to determine whether there is a market for retail and housing in that area,” Economic Development Director Cesar Suarez said.

The plan itself would take 18 months to complete, he said.

“We would work with stakeholder groups to develop the analysis,” Suarez said.

Plans for land around the Gateway Center would mark the next phase of downtown redevelopment in Joliet, which largely has been focused on making Chicago Street more hospitable for business and events.

A staff report developed for the City Council pointed to the same 2015 downtown plan that was used to guide the city in the redevelopment of Chicago Street.

The report notes that the plan identified the area around the Gateway Center “for a transit-oriented residential development” and called for “a more diverse array of housing opportunities.”

The plan also called for more residential development to create a population base that would support downtown businesses.

Available land includes the old Lyons Lumber site, which the city acquired in 2016.

Suarez said the city also would look at a current parking area for use in the development and the Pace property. The planning area for future development could go farther.

The Gateway Center project was in progress when the downtown plan was developed. But the train station did not open until 2018. The bus depot opened in 2022.