Joliet City Council on Tuesday will consider lifting college residency for Joliet Junior College apartments

A plan to open up student housing at Joliet Junior College to the general market faced questions on the eve of a City Council vote.

The council is slated to vote Tuesday on whether to change an ordinance that restricts occupancy at the Rock Run Residences apartments to students and others affiliated with JJC.

Former JJC Board Chairman Robert Wunderlich came to the council workshop meeting on Monday urging the city to keep the occupancy restriction on the apartments.

Wunderlich said former City Manager John Mezera insisted that the apartments be limited to students or other tenants affiliated with JJC.

He said residents in nearby subdivisions “know what’s going on at JJC, and they know it’s supposed to be student housing. They might be a little disturbed that anyone else would be living there.”

Candidate for Joliet City Council District 2 Robert Wunderlich listens to Pat Mudron answer a question at a forum for the candidates at the Joliet Public Library on Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 in Joliet. — Robert Wunderlich (Gary Middendorf – gmiddendorf@shawmedia/Gary Middendorf)

The apartments, located on the edge of the campus, already have been opened to the market despite a Planned Unit Development ordinance dating back to 2001 restricting occupancy when the apartments were built.

But lifting the residency requirement is part of a deal to sell the 128-unit apartment complex.

John Kenney with buyer Midwest REO said he is aware of 13 apartments occupied by JJC students, but there could be more.

The occupancy rate at the apartments is now 95%, Kenney said, but that is due to tenants not affiliated with JJC.

“Part of the reason for change was the lack of true student demand,” Kenney told the council. “If you didn’t have conventional renters, it (occupancy) would be much lower.”

The Joliet Junior College campus can be seen beyond the perimeter fence at Rock Run Residences, an apartment complex originally built to provide housing for students at the college. April 13, 2026 — The Joliet Junior College campus can be seen beyond the perimeter fence at Rock Run Residences, an apartment complex originally built to provide housing for students at the college on April 13, 2026. (Bob Okon)

Council members voiced some concern that the current owner already has rented out apartments to tenants with no affiliation to JJC.

“Wouldn’t that be a violation of the ordinance?” Councilman Juan Moreno asked city staff.

City Director of Community Development Dustin Anderson said the PUD ordinance “does not prescribe a remedy” if the JJC occupancy rule is violated. “It just says don’t do it,” he said.

Councilman Larry Hug said elimination of the residency requirement would be “kind of a bait and switch” on residents in the nearby subdivisions.

“Mr. Mezera was pretty adamant about the restriction,” Hug said of the original city approval for the apartments. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t have passed because the neighbors didn’t want it.”

The apartment complex went into foreclosure in 2018 under its original owner, the Joliet Junior College Foundation.

The foundation gave up ownership, and the apartments no longer have official ties to the college.

The PUD ordinance limiting residency when the apartments were built, however, still applies unless the council agrees to change it.