Plans for homes at St. Charles Mall site get sour reception

St. Charles residents on the west side of town don't want high-density residential development at the old St. Charles Mall site. They want high-density commercial development.

But plans shared with the city's plan commission Tuesday night suggest that's not happening anytime soon.

The Shodeen Group, which owns the 28-acre site between Randall Road and Prairie Street, pitched three plans that envision between 433 and 609 residences on the property.

The 609-residence plan is the same as what community members called "crap" during a presentation in May. It involves a mix of apartments with first-floor retail, restaurants and underground parking.

A midlevel version of the plan features 454 residential units with a little less retail, but the same amount of restaurant space and a lot more surface parking.

A third version features 433 residential units with no retail, the same amount of restaurant space and more street parking.

City residents hated all three versions. Residents said they want something closer to a plan with 80 percent commercial development and 20 percent residential.

"It's basically an apartment complex with some stores in front of it," said Kim Malay, of the St. Charles Near West Neighbors Association. "There's no sense of community."

Malay and other members of the public encouraged better marketing of the site for commercial development and more creativity in designing a neighborhood feel to any type of housing that is included.

Shodeen President David Patzelt and his team said there is a disconnect between what the community seems to want and what the property can actually attract or host as a profitable development. Patzelt said his team marketed the site through three different brokers for straight commercial use over the past six years to no avail.

"There's nobody out there; there's nobody that's going to come," Patzelt said of commercial tenants. "I've drawn many plans. We have tried to truly sell and market this property for straight commercial, and it's not there."

The plan commission, an advisory board to the city council, was receptive to a greater number of homes than audience members were. But they agreed commercial development should be a prominent feature and that any homes must be within walking distance and have a much better architectural appeal than anything Shodeen has brought forward to date.

Shodeen now has the opportunity to revise its plans or push forward to a vote by the city council.