125,000 square feet too big? College appealing Naperville historic commission rejection.
Naperville's historic preservation commission decided a proposed science center for North Central College was too big, but college officials aren't ready to scale back their plans.
The college is appealing to the Naperville City Council the historic group's denial Tuesday of the science center.
North Central is seeking permission to demolish five houses and a residence hall in the city's historic district to build a 125,000-square-foot science center on the west side of Loomis Street between Van Buren and Jefferson avenues.
"It is the best location for us to build our new science facility," said Jim Godo, North Central's assistant vice president for external relations. "So we made the decision that it was right to appeal the decision and ask the members of the city council to give serious consideration to our appeal."
Godo and Paul Loscheider, vice president for business affairs, said the college needs the science center to teach STEM disciplines, or science, technology, engineering and math, in the future.
The college also could have re-approached the historic preservation commission, but that would have required changing the proposal.
"I don't think we could have done anything differently," Loscheider said. "This is how North Central College needs to address what's happening in STEM disciplines."
Loscheider said the college commissioned a study by Research Facilities Design to determine how much space would be needed to replace the 37,600-square-foot Kroehler Science Center, which was built in 1967.
The study suggested a 175,000-square-foot building to house biology, bioinformatics, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, math, neuroscience, psychology and physics and provide research and lab space for students.
Loscheider said the college condensed the facility to the 125,000-square-foot range.
The proposed building would be three stories and 48 feet tall, within a 50-foot height limit for the property's zoning designation.
"Yes, it's a big building. But North Central has a lot of big buildings," Loscheider said. "We're sizing a facility that's the right size to do (STEM) the way it should be."
Officials noted the proposed science center is similarly sized or smaller than science buildings at comparable institutions, including Wheaton College, which has a 125,000-square-foot science center, and Dominican University, where the science center is 123,000 square feet.
But historic preservation commission members said it was too big when they voted 5-1 on July 24 not to allow demolition of the buildings that could make space for the science center.
"I do think a building of this size will be detrimental to the character of the historic district," commission member Tim Messer said. "I'm having a hard time thinking this is the right place for a building of this size."
City council members are scheduled to hear a recap of the college's presentation to the historic preservation commission before considering the appeal Tuesday.