St. Charles alderman OK with 609 apartments on mall site
The idea of building 609 apartments on the site of the former St. Charles Mall got an encouraging nod from St. Charles aldermen Monday night.
Some weren't thrilled with the number of units proposed, but they indicated they could live with housing on the site - if more space for stores and restaurants were included in the Prairie Centre plan.
"From your perspective, it's, 'We presented a plan with a lot of residential, and no one threw us out of the building,'" committee chairman Todd Bancroft said at the end of a planning and development committee meeting to review a "concept plan."
Alderman Jo Krieger and several others also said they want some of the units designated for senior housing, even though the developer has said there isn't much of a market for senior housing in that area of Randall Road.
No action was taken. The purpose of the meeting was to give the developer, Shodeen Inc., an indication of the aldermen's thoughts before the company invests more money in creating detailed plans.
Some of the land would need to be rezoned for residential use. The city's comprehensive plan calls for commercial development on the site, and it even suggests the parcel be combined with a Jewel-Osco property to the northwest to make a commercial site with Randall Road frontage.
The nearly 28-acre site is at Randall and Lincoln Highway. The mall closed in 1996, and demolition was completed in 2003. In 2009, the firm proposed Towne Centre, with 999 units of housing, as well as stores and restaurants. The housing was carved to 675 units, but the plan still didn't pass muster with the city council.
"It needs to be a crown jewel in our gateway for it to work," resident Kim Malay said. She also suggested that the city hire a firm to analyze the market for site and for nearby properties. Across Lincoln Highway is a Shodeen-owned strip mall that houses a Salvation Army Thrift Store and several small stores.
"One of the reasons this property has been tough to develop is none of the properties around it are nothing special, either," Malay said.
Shodeen has maintained for years that there is no interest by stores - big-box or small - in the site. It says it has tried to market the land with three different firms and that one of them had solicited 51 stores, with no results. Plans for an auto mall never came to fruition.
Residents of nearby neighborhoods reiterated concerns about the plan. They include:
• That the west side of St. Charles already has twice as much rental housing as the east side.
• That not enough parking is included in the concept.
• That the preferred plan doesn't include any affordable housing.
• That the plan doesn't seem like it would foster a sense of community among its residents.
• That it doesn't seem special enough for a property that is on a major "gateway" to St. Charles.