Wheaton residents fight plans for old courthouse property

A group of Wheaton residents is objecting to a requested change to a developer’s plan that would open the door for a new assisted-living facility downtown.

Attorney Gerry Gorski said he sent a petition to city officials because he and other residents bought their Courthouse Square condominiums based partially on a plan by Focus Development Inc. to build a strictly residential community on its 5.6-acre property.

The Northfield-based company recently asked the city for an amendment to its planned unit development that would allow it to move forward with an investor who wants to bring a retirement home to the site, which sits on the northwest corner of Willow Avenue and Naperville Road.

Gorski said the commercial use of the property contradicts the city’s plan and the residents’ expectations.

Meanwhile, the site remains at a standstill with the bottom level of what was to become the second of three midrise buildings sitting on the site’s eastern edge. But Gorski said residents have started to organize and may hire an attorney for a possible battle.

“While we understand (Focus) has an issue and a problem with securing financing for (residential) use, that hardly mitigates the potential loss in property values to the residents,” Gorski said.

Last week, Gorski sent a petition signed by 67 residents to the city council. In it, Gorski said residents understand Focus’s financing troubles but moving forward with the new use “is not consistent” with residential uses put forth by the company when the project began.

Additionally, the petition reminds council members that $7.7 million in tax increment finance money supplemented the project based upon an expectation that “a vibrant residential community” would be the result.

City officials say a public hearing will most likely be scheduled for May on the amendment. A spokeswoman for Focus said the company would not comment on the situation until it receives an official response from the city.

City Manager Don Rose said he understand Focus’s dilemma.

“There is no market for what they were doing with that second development,” Rose said. “The project is treading water as most condominium-townhome projects are.”

He said in an ideal market, he would prefer to see all developments in town finish as they were intended.

“We’d love to see the courthouse completed as contemplated but nobody is doing much of anything in that market,” he said.

The petition marks the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the former courthouse, which was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1978. It housed the DuPage County Court until 1990. From 1992 to 2005, the building and surrounding area belonged to National-Louis University, which has since moved its DuPage operations to Lisle.

In 2005, the city council borrowed $7.7 million and created a tax increment finance district to help supplement Focus and Airhart Construction, which jointly introduced a $90 million renovation plan that created housing units in the courthouse and proposed three residential buildings, as well as a cluster of townhouses on the site.

A representative for Focus met with residents before making the amendment request to discuss its plans, Gorski said.

Gorski stressed that residents have no objection to the people who would be served at the facility. Instead, he says, the objection is to any commercial enterprise on the site.

“Why would Wheaton invest that money at that location? They were attempting to bring to downtown people who appreciate living in sub-community within a community, people with disposable income,” said Gorski, who moved into the 115-year-old courthouse in December 2008. “Additionally, we, the residents, feel that we were expecting to belong to an upscale, owner-occupied residential community ... We are going to fight this.”