Mill Creek expansion gets final approval

A downsized expansion of Mill Creek that was once decried by neighbors won final approval Tuesday from the Kane County Board.

The project will bring 268 apartments and 15,000 square feet of commercial space to a section of Geneva originally targeted for 210,000 square feet of commercial and office space. Shodeen Construction transformed that original commercial dream into a rental project in response to the market. The company wanted to build 390 apartments instead of the commercial space, but existing Mill Creek residents objected. A series of meetings between residents and Shodeen representatives resulted in the scaled-back 268 rental units plan.

“I think the neighbors all think they had a good opportunity to have input on this,” said county board member Drew Frasz, who brokered those meetings.

Indeed, no neighbors showed up Tuesday morning to speak against the project.

Work on the rental units won’t begin until 80 percent build-out of the available rental space in downtown Mill Creek is achieved. That means it will likely be two to four years before any major construction progress occurs on the apartments.